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by WannabeDragronTamer88
Summary: Maddie's life is..easy. Writing books, raising her son, dealing with her baby daddy, falling in love: It's all GOOD. She definitely DOESN'T have time for a friend reunion, secrets coming out, her ex showing up, dealing with a villain who has escaped the internet (LITERALLY), and did someone just threaten her son? Yeah...so much for easy. The (5th) Final Installment of SHIFT series.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

Clint opened his front door with a sigh of relief. "Finally!" He grinned at the woman standing on his front porch, a large pair of sunglasses almost entirely covering her face. She grimaced back, the baby on her hip removing his fingers from his mouth to smile cautiously at Clint.

"It was getting weird in here," he continued, shooting a dark look behind him, "that British guy is a freak. Also, where have you been? You've made the birthday boy late to his own party." Clint winked at the baby, who had grown so much over the last few months.

Maddie removed her sunglasses and threw them in the direction of her car. "We had a…thing." She hedged slowly. "Don't worry about it. Yes, he's a giant freak, which is why I like him. Can I come inside now?" She readjusted the baby on her hip, and Clint made a face, though he did step out of the way.

"Ugh, I guess." He teased. "Everyone's in the back." Clint followed Maddie as she easily navigated his hallways.

* * *

Although she hadn't been by in nearly a year, she had lived there for months.

Maddie reached Clint's back porch, and the second the group of men seated around Clint's patio table saw her, they all stood, the man with the dark curls and flashing blue eyes striding forward and reaching for the baby, who happily switched hands.

"Sherlock," Maddie greeted. "Nice to see you. How was the flight?"

"Tedious." He said curtly, focusing his attention on the baby.

Maddie smiled tiredly at the other two men, frowning slightly after a moment. "Where's Dean?" She asked crossly.

"Careful," Sherlock teased. "Your preferences are showing."

"I'm not going to hide it, Sherlock," Maddie rolled her eyes, letting herself be pushed into a chair by the british man. "He's my favorite."

"Nice to see you too." Sam rolled his eyes and sat back down, and Maddie shot him a grin. Cas, the other man on the porch, shot her a wounded look.

"I thought I was your favorite?" He asked sadly, and Maddie shoved him.

"You're my best friend." She argued. "That's different…but much better."

"Wait a second." Clint joined everyone at the table. "If the other Winchester is your favorite and that guys your best friend, where do I fall on the Maddie's preference scale?"

"Yeah," Sherlock said slowly, his nose scrunching up as he allowed Orie to tug on his hair. "I am also interested in where I stand."

"First things first," Maddie leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "Where's Dean?"

"He got stuck in a meeting," Sam explained with a smirk. "That's what happens when you're the boss. He'll be here as soon as he can."

Maddie made a face. "Fine. While we wait, Cas and Sherlock are tied for best friend, Sam is the lowest at brother of my favorite, Dean, is obviously my favorite and a rung higher than Cas and Sherlock, Clint still outranks Dean as my annoying adopted big brother slash uncle thing, and Bucky outranks everyone.

"As what?" Sam asked, not at all bothered by where he stood.

"He's just…Bucky," Maddie shrugged. "Bucky beats everyone…except for Laura."

"What about me?" Laura appeared, her son on her hip, a wide smile on her face. "I thought it was you!" She pulled Maddie into a large hug, and Maddie returned it after a long moment.

"You're my number one," Maddie explained, "and thusly outrank everyone in this room."

"Oh." Laura sat down with a smile. "I'm honored." She handed off her kid to Clint, and turned to Maddie. "So? How's the job?"

"Well." Maddie shot Sherlock a smirk. "My boss is certainly better than the last guy," She admitted, and Sherlock snorted.

"Your last boss tried to blackmail you and your friends," Sherlock pointed out. "Anyone is better than that."

"True." Maddie grinned.

* * *

Sam and Cas shared a confused look. They hadn't heard THAT story. But before Sam could ask, the sliding door slid open and Bucky tumbled out, his hair still ridiculously long, but his smile more genuine than it had been before. Maddie stood immediately and was wrapping her arms around his neck before the others knew what was happening.

Bucky, for his part, returned the surprise hug immediately. "Mads! What's up!"

"I don't want to talk about it," Maddie muttered as she pulled away. "It was just…a weird morning. And no, I'm not going to tell you what I was doing."

"Alright." Bucky agreed immediately. "Hey Clint. Mrs. Clint."

"Laura." Laura corrected with an eyeroll.

"Winchester." Bucky nodded at Sam. "Cas." Bucky shot Maddie a look. "Who's the other guy?"

"Sherlock Holmes, the stray that followed me back from London." Maddie introduced.

Sherlock glared at Maddie. "Your sense of humor is tasteless and backwards."

"Thank you." Maddie beamed.

"I like this guy." Bucky spoke up, holding out his hand to shake.

After a moment, Sherlock stiffly held out his own hand. Orion, once Bucky was closer, held out his hands, and Bucky grinned and scooped the baby into his arms.

"So we're just waiting on your favorite then?" Bucky took the seat in between Sherlock and Clint, leaving one seat open, the seat in between Sam and Maddie. Maddie nodded.

"What have you been up to?" Clint turned to Bucky. "Seen your bestie yet?"

"Nope." Bucky shook his head cheerfully, holding up his metal arm so Orie could hit it. "I'm avoiding spangles at all costs right now."

"So how are you spending your time then?" Laura asked. "You can't very well spend too much time in public, what with you being a criminal and all."

"The Winter Soldier?" Sherlock interrupted the conversation abruptly, shooting Maddie a look. She nodded happily.

"We need to talk about how you make friends," He said seriously, before turning back to Bucky. "I apologize for interrupting. Please continue."

"Right." Bucky grinned. "Well, you know, Spangles new best friend is surprisingly enough, a very good finder."

"Damn Hufflepuff," Maddie muttered.

"So I've been doing my best to avoid getting found, by both the good guys and the bad guys, I might add, working on regaining my memory, Oh!" Bucky snapped his fingers, a sly grin growing on his face. "I've ALSO been doing some light reading…"

Maddie groaned suddenly, and Bucky's sly grin morphed into a smirk.

"You can read?" Clint raised an eyebrow. "Color me surprised."

"Stuff it, Barton, of course I can read. Especially when I know the author." Bucky turned to Maddie who was grimacing.

"Author?" Laura followed bucky's gaze. "Maddie? You finally published that book?"

"You can write?" Clint turned wide eyes onto Maddie.

"Stuff it, Barton," Maddie snapped. "Of course I can write." Bucky and Maddie leaned over Laura, and Clint to fist bump. "And yes, I may or may not have published a thing or two under a very sophisticated fake name."

"Really? Laura Norder? Justin Sane? Those are sophisticated?"

Maddie straightened, smiling over at the back door, where Dean, still in his navy blue uniform, was joining the rest of the group on the back porch.

"Laura Norder? Laura I get, it's a fabulous name," Laura teased. "But the rest of it,"

"Law and Order," Clint clapped his hands. "That's good! And the other one, Justin Sane? Just – Insane! You're a child," Clint chastised, but he couldn't get rid of his grin.

Maddie shrugged. "What can I say? Ridiculous names for a couple of ridiculous books. Hey Baby." She tilted her head up, and Dean obligingly planted a kiss on one cheek before moving to the empty seat. "Have I told you recently how sexy you are?"

Dean grinned. "Not recently," he admitted, leaning over to whisper something in Maddie's ear, which had her snickering.

Clint looked over at his wife, arms crossing. "Why don't you ever say that to me?" He asked a little crossly. Laura snickered.

"I'll call you sexy when you look like that," She pointed at Dean, and Clint's eyes narrowed. Then he sighed. "Fair enough."

"Can we go back to you being an author?" Sam asked after a moment. "I haven't read them myself, but the Sane Novels are a three book series, and two of them are already out in stores. And from what I've heard, they're amazing." Sam tilted his head. "You wrote them?"

"They're not that good," Maddie tried. "And also, yes. I wrote them."

"Those are the ones about this prison under the ocean, where supposedly the most dangerous of criminals are held, but you find out that the people being detained actually used to be superheroes who saved the world, before the government deemed them too dangerous and threw them away, and the new president is going to open the prison for visitors, like some sort of freak museum, but actually, he can't, not until he turns the heroes into legitimate monsters, and the government starts experimenting on them, and,"

"Cas!" Maddie interrupted. "It's not that exciting."

But Cas was shaking his head. "It's so good," He beamed. "I'm waiting for the third installment because I HAVE to find out if Grant, who escaped in book one to find his best friends son, to help him fight the government, then found out his friend was a part of the government in book two, escapes his friends sons clutches to go back and save his friends before they get turned into monsters."

"Sounds familiar," Clint said after a moment.

"I may or may not have played with your reality a bit." She admitted. "In my old world, we call it fanfiction.

"The Norder Novels, are a supernatural series," Bucky spoke up helpfully, winking at Sam. "Novels that are eerily accurate when describing creatures and actual events."

"I helped with those." Dean smiled and rested his arm on the back of Maddie's chair. "Oh, chill out, Sammy," He rolled his eyes. "It's not another Edlund situation," He promised. "There's just enough fiction in them to make us unrecognizable."

Sam shook his head. "If you say so," He said doubtfully to Dean, though he smiled at Maddie. "If Dean okays them, I'm sure they're amazing."

"They're wildly famous among young adults," Laura perused, "But I've read one or two of them, and I enjoyed them myself."

"Even at your advanced age?" Maddie teased, and Laura shoved her. Maddie stood from the table reaching for her son. "Anyway, can we stop talking about my wild success with novel writing and get to the cake and presents?"

"Yes." Dean stood as well. "Cake first, presents after."

"Alright." Maddie smirked. "The cop has spoken."

* * *

It was hours later, after the cakes, after the presents, after more interrogations about Maddie's novels and after Orie had been passed around so much that he eventually passed out on Dean's shoulder, with Clint's kids in bed and a beer in every hand, that Clint brought up the first serious question of the night.

"So, you've been in Seattle for almost five months now, the longest you've been anywhere since you first belly flopped onto this planet. You work part time at a newspaper and are a part time novelist. Your son is one years old and your life is starting to look actually normal." Clint took a long swallow from his beer. "Have you finally found what you've wanted?"

Maddie, leaning against Dean's shoulder, wrinkled her nose. "I mean; I guess?" She shrugged. "I do tend to work regular hours, I have friends, I pay the bills and my kids growing like a weed. Not to mention my super-hot cop boyfriend whose in Seattle more often than he's not," Dean smiled and rubbed Maddie's arm in acknowledgment. "I didn't realize it until just now, but since the move, there have been no bodies, no murders, no strange creatures trying to kill me, no bad guys trying to blackmail me. My life has been pretty…normal."

"You hate it." Bucky said after a moment.

"No!" Maddie's response was immediate, but not nearly as confident as it should've been. "I just, I have to get used to it. I'm just not used to it all yet, which'll take some time."

"Mmmm." Clint said disbelievingly.

"I'll just have to get used to it," Maddie said after a moment. "Because this is my life now: Normal. Besides," She chuckled, setting her beer down on the table. "There's literally nothing else that could happen to me that hasn't already happened to me."

Maddie sighed and leaned back against Dean and did her best to accept the idea of "normal."

But with Dean holding her son and his solid warmth behind her, with her friends laughing and chuckling around her, it wasn't that hard of an idea to accept.

Normal might not be what Maddie was used to, but it was a welcome change.

Unfortunately, the welcome change wasn't going to last as long as Maddie would've liked.

* * *

 **THIS IS THE END...heheheh**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	2. An Awkward Reunion

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

 _Six Months Later_

Maddie rolled her eyes, a pro, after all this time, at multi-tasking. She fumbled in her bag for her house key, phone perched precariously between her shoulder and ear. She hopped up her front steps, sneakers scuffing against the pavement as she almost missed a step.

Maybe she wasn't THAT great at multitasking.

"Yes," Maddie interrupted the loud ranting, I'll be at the thing, and yes, I'll wear a dress. We've already had this conversation, and I've promised to be on my best behavior, what else do you want from me?" Maddie dropped her bag on the ground and squat down next to it, moving her phone to one hand so she could peer into her cluttered handbag, listening as she searched.

"Yeah, well, my attitude, considering you've decided to make my pen names useless by outing me in front of a bunch of strangers as a famous author, when I very much enjoy being a low level reporter, is about as good as its going to get." She snapped, grinning when her house key finally revealed itself. She wiped her hands on her dark jeans as she rose, leaving her bag, for the moment on the ground.

"I know how hard it's been, benny," Maddie attempted to placate, "with your best client refusing to do book signings and press tours, but you also know when you signed me that I didn't want to be famous. I just wanted to write. I'm only losing the pen names because you asked me to, because I know how helpful it will be for you." Her front door opened after only a few moments of fumbling, and she grinned, tossing her key back into her bag and kicking the whole thing into the house. "Yeah, whatever. No thanks necessary." She huffed, following her bag inside, shutting the door behind her and locking it quickly. After a moment, she unlocked it.

"Just promise me I won't have to stay any longer than absolutely necessary…okay deal." Maddie moved her bag to the entry table in her foyer, toeing off her sneakers, and pulling her hoodie over her head.

"I'll even throw in a few dances." Maddie smirked. She rolled her eyes at the huffy response she got to that statement.

"Yeah, I've got a date. He's super hot too, so get off my back." Maddie padded towards the living room, shoulders sagging in relief at the thought of hanging up and not having to deal with dumb benny for at least two hours.

"Yeah, I'll see you tonight. I hate you. Bye." Maddie hung up on her boss, and threw her phone, covering her eyes with a loud groan, waiting for the thump that meant her phone had hit the wall. But the thump never came.

Instead of the thump, someone cleared their throat…very loudly.

Which wouldn't have been so weird had the throat clearing sounded female, because Maddie didn't exactly live alone.

But the sound very obviously came from a male, and her roommates were female…so it was weird.

* * *

Maddie's eyes snapped open, and she stared blankly at her empty kitchen.

"Over here," The voice said dryly, and Maddie turned, eyes widening at her definitely NOT empty living room.

"You have a date?" Pietro Maximoff, looking much too comfortable on her couch, wiggled his eyebrows.

A super hot date?" Pietro's sister Wanda, seated next to him, crossed her arms.

"Please….I'd love to meet him." Maddie shot a grimace at Steve, who was holding her phone in one hand so tightly that she was surprised it hadn't snapped in two yet.

"Nope." Clint poked Steve's thigh, too lazy to move from the spot he'd claimed on Maddie's loveseat. He shook his head meaningfully when Steve looked down at him. "Trust me, no you don't."

"I would." Steve's eyes narrowed, his arms crossed, his gaze snapping back to Maddie. He tossed her phone back to her. "I'd love to meet him."

Maddie chose to ignore Steve in favor of glaring at Clint, who blinked innocently at her. "Clint Barton, you rat." She huffed. "Why did you let these people in my house?"

"It's not my fault." Clint raised his arms innocently. "They forced me to tell them."

Maddie blinked at the dumb idiot, and Clint sighed again. "They asked nicely, and I figured it was a good time to get the gang back together," He finally admitted, Maddie's lips tightened.

"You did, huh?" She stepped forward slowly, her unwanted intruders watching her approach warily. "You didn't think that maybe I'd be busy? That I'd have other," Maddie paused and raised an eyebrow meaningfully, "guests?"

"The thought occurred to me," Clint shrugged, crossing his arms. "But then I decided I didn't care."

Maddie shook her head, pausing at the sound of her front door opening and closing.

* * *

A moment later a young woman appeared, wearing a white blouse and black skirt, holding a pair of black heels in her hand. Her bright red hair was falling out of what might've once been a neat bun. She squinted at everyone, then turned to Maddie.

"Whoa," She said numbly. "I've never seen so many people in our living room before.

Maddie smirked tiredly. "Ken," She huffed, "Meet my past."

"Sup." The woman greeted, before turning away from the group to move down the hallway. "Your past is hot, Mads," She called over her shoulder, and Maddie chuckled.

"I'm aware," She agreed dryly.

"And yet," The woman paused in front of a doorway to wiggle her eyebrows mischievously at Maddie. "The future is hotter."

"Agreed." Maddie scrunched her nose at Clint, and he grimaced.

"Gross." He shook his head, but Steve perked up.

"Are you referring to the hot date Mads has tonight?" Steve directed his question to the woman, who seemed much more willing to speak than Maddie. Maddie made a face, but stayed silent.

"That would be the guy." The woman confirmed with a grin. "Hottie, is his name, and he and Maddie have been hopelessly attached since I've known them. I, on the other hand, am Maddie's very single roommate." She leered at Steve.

"No you're not." Maddie shook her head. "That's a lie."

"I could be single," Her roommate amended, still staring at Steve.

"Except you're not," Maddie watched her roommate wiggled her eyebrows at a very uncomfortable Steve with a smirk. "Kennedy." She finally said sharply, giving Steve a break. "Go away before I ground you."

"Hmph. Fine." Kennedy shot Steve one last wink, then flounced into a room and slammed the door shut.

"She's fun." Pietro said brightly after a moment. Maddie turned to Pietro, smiling.

"She is, isn't she?" Maddie agreed, arms crossing. This was one estranged Avenger she was more than happy to see. "Hey Pie."

"Maddie." Pietro grinned and stood up from the couch, moving forward to wrap a friendly arm around Maddie. She grimaced, because physical contact, but let it happen, because she HAD missed Pietro, a little bit.

* * *

Maddie's front door opened and closed once more, and Maddie grunted. "Who is it NOW?" She called out, and two deep chuckles had her relaxing.

Her annoying, estranged, ex co workers, made a face at the two men that joined the party, both of them wearing navy uniforms, very similar to that of a police officer, although there were no labels or identifying marks. One of the men, the taller of the two, took off his aviater sunglasses with a smile.

"Is this a bad time?" He asked lightly, his question directed at Maddie.

"Yes," Maddie answered immediately.

"The more the merrier!" Clint spoke over her, shooting the two newcomers an easy smile. "Hey guys. Good to see you."

The tall one flicked his long hair out of his eyes and returned Clint's smile. "Hey Clint. Who're your friends?" Though the question was vague, his eyes lingered on Wanda, who smiled slowly. Pietro coughed pointedly and plopped back onto the sofa, and Sam

"My old team," Clint waved at the group. "We're in town for a gala. You guys too?"

The tall one nodded, but the shorter one turned to Maddie, his blue eyes narrowed. "Are these individuals here by your invitation?"

Maddie crossed her arms and glared at her crowded living room, staring challengingly at Clint. "Nope." She answered promptly. "Not one of them."

The blue eyed man took in the room assessingly. "You want me to get rid of them?" He asked.

"Cas," The tall man chuckled. "These are the Avengers."

"I can take them." Cas said bluntly. He looked at Maddie, his arms crossed. "Shall I?"

Maddie thought for a moment, seeming to consider her friends proposal, but then she sighed. "No," She finally said, a little regretfully. "We'll let them be…for now."

"Wonderful." Sam Wilson rolled his eyes. "Mads, who are these guys?"

"Ugh, Introductions." Maddie waved a hand at the two men, and they moved to take a seat at her kitchen island, sinking onto barstools, Sam with relief and Cas still warily staring at Maddie's full living room. "Right, Tall One's Sam Winchester."

"Nice name," Wilson smirked.

"Yeah, you're hilarious." Maddie rolled her hands. "And the other one is Castiel, he was my roommate when I was in Kansas."

"You lived in Kansas?" Wanda asked, surprised. Pietro scrunched up his nose.

"Why?" He asked bluntly.

"I travel for work," Maddie made a face at Pietro. "I was in Kansas for a few months because of that. Now enough with the interrogation." Maddie pointed a finger. "Because If anything, I should be the one interrogating YOU."

"But we're boring." Wilson whined. "I'd much rather talk about what you've been doing the last few years."

"Or WHO you've been doing," Tasha muttered under her breath.

Clint shoved Tasha, and she shrugged. "What? It's a valid question."

"It's a valid question I refuse to answer," Maddie shook her head quickly.

"That's not something I really want to know," Wanda spoke up, and Steve nodded in agreement.

"I actually know the answer to that question," Sam raised two fingers," and Maddie threw her phone at him, the device smacking him in the side of the head.

"Ow!" He rubbed the spot and shot Maddie a betrayed look.

"Keep your whore mouth shut Winchester," She warned lowly. "Or there's more where that came from."

"What did he do now?"

* * *

In the midst of the interrogations and the phone throwing, the opening and closing of Maddie's door went unheard. But the new voice was unmistakeable.

"Sam's being mean to me," Maddie accused immediately, and the man who appeared, smile wide and wearing the same type of uniform as the other two non-avengers, had eyes only for Maddie.

Sam huffed loudly. "She threw her phone at my face."

"Eh," The man smirked. "Might be an improvement," He toed off his shoes and the ended up in a heap next to Maddie's, dropped a bag that thumped loudly and leaned against Maddie's purse, and then moved towards Maddie, not paying attention to the living room. "Leave Mads alone Sam, before I beat you."

Maddie shot Sam a smug grin, then her hand shot out, pausing the new guy from getting any closer to her. He frowned, almost a pout.

"What gives?" He asked.

"We have an audience," She said, looking obviously to the Avengers.

The man followed her gaze, stiffening nearly immediately. "That's a bigger audience than I'd expected," He said surprised, and Maddie nodded, her hand still on his chest.

"Yep," She rolled her eyes. "Apparently today is break into Maddie's house day."

"To be fair," He shot her a smile, "Your door is unlocked."

"Specifically for the three people I was expecting," She argued. "You, Scarf Man, and Lefty. Not for these idiots."

"And these idiots are?" He asked, and Maddie sighed.

"Right. More introductions. On the loveseat is Clint, you know him,"

"Clint," The man nodded and Clint made a face.

"Next to Clint is Natasha Romanoff, the couch is Wanda, Pietro Maximoff," The man's eyebrows rose, but he nodded at the twins, and they nodded back. Wanda smiled suddenly and shot Maddie a wink.

"Yeah I know," Maddie answered Wanda's unspoken question. "The guy on the end of the couch is Sam Wilson, and Steve Rogers is the idiot standing up." Steve's arms crossed as he considered the man in front of him, and his eyebrows lowered, his eyes squinting.

"The Avengers." The man nodded slowly, watching Steve with confused caution. Steve's glare just deepened. Sam Wilson shot Steve a confused look, and Clint stared at Steve and Dean in turns, a large smile on his face. "Right." Dean said slowly, moving a slight step closer to Maddie. Steve's fists clenched. "I forgot you knew them."

"Yep." Maddie crossed her arms sulkily. "Idiots, this is Dean Winchester, Sam's older brother."

Dean waved and smiled awkwardly. When no one said anything he turned to Maddie. "I'm gonna go change," He informed and Maddie checked the watch on her left hand.

"Smart move, we've gotta leave soon." She hesitated, and Dean waited to hear what else she had to say. As the pause lengthened, he didn't seem bothered, content just to watch her think.

"For the sake of full disclosure," she finally began slowly, "We do have a Code 23 on our hands."

* * *

The Avengers blinked dumbly, and Sam and Cas shared a look, but Dean's eyes widened dramatically, then narrowed into slits. He turned back to the Avengers assessingly, his eyes focusing on the men, passing Clint and Steve by, lingering for only a moment on Wilson, and then pausing on Pietro.

"Hmm." He said coldly as he stared Pietro down.

Pietro leaned back, looking confused. Wanda snickered into her hand.

And finally, Dean moved down the hallway, entering a door on the right and slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

 **Whatever could CODE-23 mean?**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	3. The Paternity Problem

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

"That went well." Sam Winchester smiled encouragingly at Maddie, and she sighed, leaning against the wall behind her.

"The night hasn't even started," she complained, "and I'm already tired." She rubbed her face. "And the crap hasn't even hit the fan yet."

"There's more?" Wilson looked much too entertained, his eyebrows raised and a smirk on his face. "Man." He leaned against the couch cushions. "This is better than the Bachelor."

Clint snorted. "This is pretty much The Bachelor, actually," He said after a moment. "Door number one: The Avengers! Door number two," Clint held up two fingers, "Kansas buddies and," He grimaced, "that other guy. Door number three,"

Clint paused as the front door opened, and Maddie groaned.

* * *

"Is there a sign on my door or something that says "Welcome! Please, forego all manners and just barge right in, like some sort of uncultured swine?!" She shrieked.

"I'm sorry," A deep voice began sarcastically, "I was under the impression that you were expecting me to return?"

Maddie closed her eyes with a grimace. "Sherlock," She greeted slowly. "Sorry. I was expecting you. I've just had a few more unexpected visitors today than I was prepared to deal with."

The tall man that strode into view, wearing an unbuttoned trenchcoat, with a sleeping toddler sprawled over his chest, seemed unimpressed and unsurprised at the crowd in Maddie's living room. He sniffed.

"I see that your past has finally come back to haunt you," He said smugly. The toddler in his arms huffed against his shoulder, coming awake, eyelids fluttering.

Maddie smiled tightly. "Shut up. How was the museum?"

"Fascinating." Sherlock blinked at the toddler that had sat up and was staring hazily at the man holding him. "We solved four murders."

The toddler slowly held up four fingers.

"Productive." Maddie approved. The toddler, a little boy with bright blue eyes turned suddenly at the sound of Maddie's voice. "Let me guess." She winked at the baby while she continued speaking to Sherlock. "He needs a diaper change."

"Brilliant deduction," Sherlock smirked. The little boy in his arms smiled widely at Maddie, two dimples appearing and held out his hands.

"Mama!" The little boy demanded, and Sherlock handed the baby over to Maddie, who poked the baby in the cheek.

"Hi baby," she greeted.

He giggled and laid his head against her shoulder.

That's when he noticed the crowd of people in the room. He blinked at them slowly, still staring at the first person he'd caught sight of, Pietro, who smiled and made faces at the little boy, who just stared blankly back at him.

"Wait a second." Pietro straightened suddenly.

"Did that baby just call you Mama?!"

* * *

" _Did that baby just call you Mama?!"_

"Oh." Maddie looked at the boy in her arms, then at Sherlock. "Right. Yep." She nodded. "This is my son: Orion."

Clint, Winchester and Cas, didn't look surprised: because they weren't. They already knew about Orie. Steve simply blinked. But the others?

Natasha's eyes were narrowed so much it almost looked like her eyes were simply closed altogether. Wilson only seemed mildly surprised until he thought of something, and then his surprise upgraded to pure shock, his mouth dropping open and his eyes widening dramatically.

Pietro stared dumbly at Orion, and Wanda tilted her head, her eyes unfocused as she thought. Suddenly, a hand clapped over her mouth.

Maddie grimaced at the silence.

"I made him," She finally said, which helped to break the silence.

"And who helped you?" Wilson asked sharply, his arms crossed and his eyebrows lowered.

Maddie winced, and Wilson shook his head.

"Him?" Tasha asked, inclining her head at the British man who observed everything, amused.

Sherlock scoffed. "Certainly not." He lifted his chin haughtily. "I'm a detective."

"That doesn't mean anything." Maddie shook her head. "You're still a male," She pointed out.

"But I did not meet you until Orion was three months old," Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Obviously I'm not the father."

"No," Maddie agreed with a huff, bouncing the baby who'd stared at Pietro until he'd fallen back asleep, this time against his mom's shoulder. "But being a detective doesn't make you incapable of being a father, I'm just saying."

"You're annoying," Sherlock rolled his eyes and moved to stand on one side of her kitchen island, nodding seriously at the two men seated on the other side. Sam and Cas nodded back.

"I'm aware." Maddie took a deep breath. "I have a kid," She said bluntly. "Does it really matter who the father is?"

"Does it?" Wilson asked darkly, and Maddie made a face at him.

"Yes." Tasha answered when Maddie didn't. "It does matter, because I want to know."

Maddie tilted her head as she thought, resting the side of her face on top of her son's face. "You really want me to say? Just blurt it out?" She took a moment to look at everyone.

Pietro nodded quickly and Wanda nodded slowly. Wilson just blinked at her.

The trio standing around her Island shrugged. Did it really matter?

Tasha considered Maddie for a long moment. Then she nodded curtly.

Clint grinned and winked.

Steve's lips tightened and he watched her for a moment. She shrugged, so slightly that no one but Steve noticed. Finally, he sighed and nodded.

"I got it." Pietro clapped his hands. "The dude." He pointed to the hallway. "It's him!"

* * *

Orion sat up suddenly eyes widening. He screeched loudly, and Dean appeared out of thin air, eyes only for the baby.

"Hey kiddo." He grinned and held out his hands, and Maddie handed Orie over. He immediately made a face. "Oh God. You reek, kid."

"Thanks." Maddie smiled cheekily at Dean, who grumbled under his breath but kissed Maddie's cheek, glowered at the room in general, and then carried the baby back to the room he'd just been in.

"I was right." Pietro smiled. "He's the guy, AND he's hottie." Maddie pursed her lips, but before she could speak, Tasha was leaning forward.

"Think it through," she cautioned, raising a finger. "No doubt that guy is hottie," She agreed. "But the father? The kid's 18 months at most, a year at least. If you follow that timeline, maybe she could've met the father after she'd left the compound, but odds are that she conceived while she was still there."

"So we know the father," Wanda nodded. "He's one of us." She turned slowly to her brother, and Tasha did the same, eyes narrowed. Clint hid a smile and did the same, and after a moment, Wilson looked too.

Steve coughed lightly, because Pietro didn't seem aware that he was the focus of everyone's attention now, he was so busy staring into space. Steve's cough had him jerking out of it.

"What?" He asked. When Wanda just raised an eyebrow, his eyes widened, his hands coming up defensively. "Whoa." He said sternly. "No. I am NOT the father."

"Yeah, no." Maddie crossed her arms. "Pie's not really my…" She tilted her head and smirked. "SPEED, if you catch my drift." Wanda snorted, and Tasha rolled her eyes.

"Hey!" Pietro leaned back, insulted.

"But if it's not Pietro," Tasha spoke up before Pietro and Maddie could get into an insult match, "Then who is it?"

"I know." Cas raised his hand, and suddenly HE was the center of everyone's focus. He blinked slowly.

"Cas," Maddie warned, but Cas just shifted in his seat and opened his mouth.

"It's that guy: with the metal arm."

* * *

Maddie's eyes dropped closed. Tasha's mouth opened slightly in surprise, and Wilson clapped a hand over his mouth.

Steve whipped to face Maddie.

"What?!" He snapped.

"Dude." Maddie took a step back. "I don't know what that guy is talking about. He's crazy."

Steve's eyes narrowed, his fists clenched. "So you DON'T know a guy with a metal arm?"

Maddie's front door opened with a creak and she grimaced, because there was only one other person she was expecting.

"Go Away!" She shouted. "You're grounded!"

"For what?" A voice called back playfully. "Whatever it is…I totally did it."

The man that appeared, his short brown hair tousled and slightly spikey, his blue eyes bright and focused on Maddie, wearing a navy long sleeve shirt and jeans, his shirt sleeves rolled up, the metal of his left arm clearly visible, seemed cheerful and unconcerned.

That changed when he followed Maddie's gaze and froze.

His fists clenched and his mouth dropped open and he tried to speak but nothing would come out. His sole focus was Steve, who looked just as surprised.

* * *

"You know what," The man snapped out of it suddenly, speaking to Maddie but unable to break eye contact with Steve. "I'mma take your advice…see ya."

"Nope!" Maddie launched herself at the man who was trying to escape, and the two slammed into the wall and then into Maddie's foyer, just out of sight.

The group couldn't see the scuffle, but they could hear it.

"Get off me!"

"No! You have to stay!"

"You just told me to leave!"

"I changed my mind! I need backup!"

"Get different backup! I am NOT dealing with this today!"

"Come on! They've already seen you, it's already too late?"

"Why didn't you tell me they were here?"

"I didn't know they were showing up!"

"Seriously Sinclair. Get off!"

"No! You owe me!"

And suddenly, the scuffle ended.

* * *

Maddie appeared again, gripping the man's metal arm tightly.

"Guys," She said, panting heavily, her hair in disarray. "This is,"

"The Winter Soldier." Tasha stood up quickly, her arms crossing.

The man winced. Maddie shrugged. "Well yes, but I was actually going to say that he's,"

"Bucky," Steve said, disbelievingly.

"Well, yes," Maddie hedged. "Yes, this is your best friend from 1942 Bucky Barnes, more recently the Winter Soldier, even MORE recently,"

"The father of your child?" Pietro spoke up quickly.

"Whoa!" That snapped Bucky out of his daze. "You think I'm Orie's dad?"

Pietro nodded. Bucky looked at Maddie, and the two started laughing.

"That's ridiculous," He pointed out, and Steve relaxed slightly. Pietro started pouting.

"I know," Maddie agreed. "You and me? Not in this lifetime!"

"Hey," Bucky frowned suddenly. "It's not THAT crazy."

Maddie shot him a look, and he snickered. "Okay, yeah, it is kind of crazy." He raised an eyebrow. "Oh. Hey Wilson. Didn't see you there." Steve whirled on Wilson, who winced and tried to sink into the couch cushions.

"What the hell is going on?" Steve fumed.

Sam looked around worriedly, then he shot upright. "Well," He began, a challenge in his voice, "We're trying to figure out who the father of Maddie's son is." Steve snorted.

"Well it's certainly not Bucky," he snapped.

"Then who is it?" Wilson crossed his arms. "Please, enlighten us."

Wilson waved an arm, eyebrows raised. Steve's eyes narrowed, but then he opened his mouth.

"Dude." Dean strode in, Orion perched on one hip. "What's with the yelling?"

Orion smiled at his mom, and waved shyly at Bucky, who smiled and waved back at the baby.

But Orie wasn't paying attention anymore.

Instead, his blue eyes were focused on the man standing on the opposite side of the room, who took a step away from Wilson, fists unclenching at the sign of the baby.

Orion clapped his hands excitedly. "Papa!" He yelled, holding his arms out. "Papa!" He said again, wiggling his fingers beseechingly.

Steve Rogers shot a look at Maddie, who just sighed and then shrugged, and Steve took that as permission to hold Orie.

He plucked the baby out of Dean's arms, and Dean couldn't protest because he was too busy staring in shock at Maddie.

The rest of the room watched in stunned silence as Steve and Orie smiled at each other.

"Papa," Orie said again, happily. Steve smiled down at Orie, and opened his mouth to return the greeting.

"Hi, Son."

* * *

Maddie leaned against the wall, arms crossed, as she took in the looks she got.

* * *

Clint wasn't surprised. He'd always known.

* * *

Dean knew that one EXISTED. He didn't know it was Captain Freakin' America, but there you go. There it was, looking ripped and holding Orie like they were related, and looking like each other, HOW DARE THEY.

* * *

Cas and Sam shared a look, because they were surprised, but more worried. Dean looked seriously close to a panic attack, which they couldn't begrudge.

Maddie's ex was CAPTAIN AMERICA, goodness personified, the total opposite of Dean.

Talk about coming up short.

* * *

Sherlock was slightly surprised. But then, he actually really didn't care, so…he was fine.

* * *

Wilson was Steve's best friend. He knew there was a kid. He didn't know about the MADDIE part. So that was a shock.

* * *

Pietro didn't get it. "What kind of a nickname is Papa?" He asked dumbly. "Is it cause Steve's old?"

Pietro wasn't always this stupid. Wanda shot a look towards her brother. But right at this moment? VERY STUPID.

"No." Tasha blinked a few times. "It's because Steve is the father."

Now it was Pietro's turn to blink. For some reason, the idea wasn't getting through. Maybe because it made no sense?

"I don't get it." He finally admitted. "I'm not getting the joke."

"There's no joke, Pietro!" Clint threw his hands in the air. "Maddie and Steve had sex!"

Dean visibly flinched. Steve covered Orie's ears. Pietro frowned.

"Now it's not even a funny joke," He critized.

"On that note," Maddie shook her head. "I'm going to change. Ladies?" Tasha and Wanda stood, determinedly. "We shall continue this interrogation in my room. Rogers?"

Steve stared wide-eyed at the room in front of him. "Good luck."

Maddie smirked and made a run for it. Wanda and Tasha followed. Steve made a move to run as well, but Clint was taking the baby from him and shoving him onto the couch before Steve could decide on an escape tactic, and there he was.

Trapped.

* * *

"Please." Wilson's voice was frosty. "Enlighten us."

* * *

 **Keep an eye out Sept. 5th for Chapters 4 and 5!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	4. Interrogation

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

Maddie leaned against the wall, arms crossed, as she took in the looks she got.

Clint wasn't surprised. He'd always known.

Dean knew that one EXISTED. He didn't know it was Captain Freakin' America, but there you go. There it was, looking ripped and holding Orie like they were related, and looking like each other, HOW DARE THEY.

Cas and Sam shared a look, because they were surprised, but more worried. Dean looked seriously close to a panic attack, which they couldn't begrudge.

Maddie's ex was CAPTAIN AMERICA, goodness personified, the total opposite of Dean.

Talk about coming up short.

Sherlock was slightly surprised. But then, he actually really didn't care, so…he was fine.

Wilson was Steve's best friend. He knew there was a kid. He didn't know about the MADDIE part. So that was a shock.

Pietro didn't get it.

* * *

"What kind of a nickname is Papa?" He asked dumbly. "Is it cause Steve's old?"

Pietro wasn't always this stupid. Wanda shot a look towards her brother. But right at this moment? VERY STUPID.

"No." Tasha blinked a few times. "It's because Steve is the father."

Now it was Pietro's turn to blink. For some reason, the idea wasn't getting through. Maybe because it made no sense?

"I don't get it." He finally admitted. "I'm not getting the joke."

"There's no joke, Pietro!" Clint threw his hands in the air. "Maddie and Steve had sex!"

Dean visibly flinched. Steve covered Orie's ears. Pietro frowned.

"Now it's not even a funny joke," He critized.

"On that note," Maddie shook her head. "I'm going to change. Ladies?" Tasha and Wanda stood, determinedly. "We shall continue this interrogation in my room. Rogers?"

Steve stared wide-eyed at the room in front of him. "Good luck."

Maddie smirked and made a run for it. Wanda and Tasha followed. Steve made a move to run as well, but Clint was taking the baby from him and shoving him onto the couch before Steve could decide on an escape tactic, and there he was.

Trapped.

"Please." Wilson's voice was frosty. "Enlighten us."

* * *

"We didn't plan this."

"Well, I appreciate the honesty." Clint shook his head, bouncing Orie on his lap. "You didn't plan this, great. So what did happen then? You just…slipped?"

Wilson choked. "I don't need to know the details," he blurt out, and from the pale faces around the rest of the room, everyone else was in agreement.

"I know how babies are made," Sam added, raising a beer at Wilson. "Uh, so, how did you meet Maddie?"

Steve bit his lip.

"I hired her on as an Avengers recruit?" He began slowly.

"And uh," Dean stepped forward, fists clenched. "How long were you her boss before you slept with her?"

"Good question." Clint handed Orie to Dean as a reward (and also so Dean wouldn't punch Steve in the face,).

Steve gulped. "Less then a day?" He closed his eyes, and everyone exploded.

"She was your employee, Steve!" Clint spat.

"Also!" Wilson threw his hands up. "Less than a day?! Really? Did you forget your brain? What were you thinking?!"

"Well he obviously wasn't thinking with his BRAIN," Sam spoke up reasonably. "Was he?"

"I can't believe you Rogers!" Clint stepped away. "This is crazy."

"It wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done," Steve admitted readily.

"No, it was quite literally, the STUPIDEST thing, you've ever done!" Wilson threw out, opening his mouth to continue berating Steve, but Steve spoke quickly over him.

"But I don't regret it!"

That got the room to go quiet.

* * *

"I don't regret it."

"Really?" Tasha sat on Maddie's bed, arms crossed, as she watched Maddie mess with her hair. "You slept with your boss, had unprotected sex, and now, you're a single, unwed mother having to negotiate custody with a father who lives on the other side of the country, and you don't regret it?"

"Well." Maddie put in her 69th bobby pin and eyed her curly updo with a satisfied smile. "It's not easy."

Wanda snorted. "Understatement."

"Okay," Maddie turned to the two women. "It's damn hard. When Steve wants to see his son, I've got a day full of meetings or it's the only time all week I've gotten my son alone or my person is in town and we just want to be together without me having to disappear for two days so my baby daddy can spend half an hour with his kid. It's hard, and it sucks, sometimes, but I never knew my dad. I'm not doing that to my son. And Rogers is an idiot, but he wants to be a part of his kids life, so we'll work it out."

Maddie huffed and grabbed for the long dress hanging in her closet. "But I can't regret my son. He's the best thing that's ever happened in my whole life."

She made a face. "I left a lot of good things in my reality." She shook her head. "I don't talk about it much, because I can't get back, so why cry about what I can't change? But my family, a good job, a really good guy," She sighed a little wistfully. "All of that was ripped away from me, and I ended up here. And in my grief," Maddie scrunched up her nose. "I rebounded, a few times," she hedged. "But I got my son. And I would trade my whole life and this life and almost all of my new people, as long as I got to keep him."

Tasha and Wanda shared a look. And unlike the men, who were still arguing loudly with Steve a few doors down, they understood. They nodded. But then Tasha smirked.

"How many times is a few?" She asked slyly.

* * *

Steve's passionate speech about how much he loved his son and couldn't regret it fell on deaf ears.

"Well of course you don't regret it," Castiel had said matter of factly. "You're now forever connected by an amazing son to a beautiful, strong, capable woman. What is there to regret about that?" And at Cas' serious words, any sympathy he had been trying to earn was thrown out the window.

Tasha leaning her head out of Maddie's bedroom to shoot him a sly look and say,

"80 times? Really?"

Well, it certainly didn't help.

* * *

The women came to a quick understanding. By the time Maddie was kicking everyone out so she could finish getting ready and "talk" with her "person" Steve had only succeeded in making everyone angry at him.

"This party is going to be a blast." He said sarcastically, following Tasha as the group strolled the few blocks it would take to get to their hotel.

"Oh, yeah." Tasha grinned.

Steve rolled his eyes. "I was being sarcastic."

Tasha patted Steve's arm consolingly.

"I know." She snickered. "But I wasn't."

Wanda moved to the other side of Steve.

"Look at the bright side," She tried to encourage Steve.

"It quite literally, can't get any worse."

* * *

Maddie stood in the foyer, less than an hour after she'd kicked everyone out, trying to get her earrings in without looking.

It was hard.

It was even harder NOT to look at Dean, who'd been silent since she'd kicked everyone out.

She had no idea what he was thinking.

"What are you thinking?"

Maddie gave up on the earrings, they weren't important. She turned to Dean, who WAS important.

Dean was very pointedly NOT looking at her, focused on handing Orie, trapped in his high chair, cheerios.

When she'd been doing it, the gesture had been completely acceptable. But situation reversed?

Yeah, Maddie wasn't pleased.

But Maddie was patient.

Finally Dean sighed and looked up.

He stared at her for a long time, and the scrutiny made Maddie want to squirm. But she was a professional, so she simply waited.  
"I think you're gorgeous," he finally admitted.

Maddie tilted her head, because that wasn't what she was talking about.

"I also think," Dean rose and moved towards her, "that you're smart, and beautiful, and way out of my league." Dean reached for Maddie's hands, and she let him take them.

"It was easier when my baby daddy was just some faceless guy?" She guessed, and Dean shrugged.

"It's worse now, because he is who is, am I right?" She continued. Dean looked away, and Maddie was tired of it. She reached for his face, placing both hands on his cheeks and turning his head so he was looking right at her.

"He's got a lot of things going for him," She admitted easily, watching the doubt creep along his face. "He's attractive, smart, famous, the father of my child," Dean scrunched up his face, and Maddie moved a step closer, so that their bodies were flush against each other. "Just one problem." She kept her voice light, waiting until she knew she had Dean's full attention.

"He's not you."

"That's a bad thing?" Dean snorted. Maddie shrugged.

"Well," She thought for a moment. "Yeah. Because I don't want Captain America. I want you."

Dean started to smile, but then his smile froze. "What about Orie?"

"Rogers will be in our lives for the next seventeen years or so," Maddie admitted. "There's no getting away from that, unfortunately. Rogers and I have a friendship for that very reason." Maddie smiled, moving her hands from Dean's face and wrapping them around his waist.

"You're the only one I wanna see naked," She teased, and Dean finally, finally, gave her a real smile.

"So take the clothes off, he's not that great then?" He pressed. Maddie snickered and stepped back, the doorbell ringing loudly in the background.

"Oh he's good," She admitted freely. "But you're better."

She left Dean to preen as she answered the door, letting in the babysitter.

"Now are you ready to party?" She asked, hands on her hips as the young woman who would be watching Orie took over cheerio-duty.

Dean nodded and stepped towards Maddie, grabbing her hand.

"Yep," he answered, winking. "Let's go."

* * *

 **They're adorable, Dean and Mads. That is all.**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	5. Guest of Honor

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

"Author Unveiling." Tasha crumpled the thick cardstock in her black gloved hand, rolling her eyes. "Like we don't already know."

"For the average individual, I'm sure they'll be very surprised." The man next to Tasha, brown hair tousled and hands twitching at the sight of the crowded ballroom they'd just entered, shrugged. He tugged on his black suit nervously, though he raised an eyebrow elegantly as he continued to speak to his black gowned companion. "Also, I'm sure Pietro will be shocked." The mans lips twitched, and Tasha snickered, a hand weaving around the crook of his elbow.

"Hey!" Pietro leaned around his sister, who he was escorting, to shoot a look at Tasha's date. "What's that supposed to mean? This guy wrote three different book series, all of them wildly successful and all of the with different age targets, each series under a different pseudonym. How is that supposed to be an easy mystery to solve?" He looked at his sister, who wore a deep navy gown that matched Pietro's dark suit. "You don't know who the author is, right?"

Wanda, instead of answering, shook her head. "Not only can I read minds," she reminded lightly, "I'm also not stupid."

"So you're saying I AM?" Pietro's chest puffed up. Wanda opened her mouth to protest, grimacing lightly when she realized she'd meant what she said.

"Oh God!" Behind the two pairs, Sam Wilson and Scott Lang laughed silently, holding onto each other so they wouldn't fall.

"You walked right into that one," Sam admitted to Wanda, who rolled her eyes and shoved their group into an unoccupied alcove of the ballroom, out of the way and hidden behind a few pillars, giving them some semblance of privacy.

"Don't worry Pie," Scott directed his smile to the brother. "I don't know who it is either."

"Except it's totally obvious." Clint rolled his eyes, his wife on his arm, both of them wearing dark purple.

"Where is she?" His wife demanded. "I can't see her."

"Calm down, wife." Clint rolled his eyes, and his friends chuckled. "She'll be here soon. Come meet Tasha's boy-toy while we wait."

"Huh?" Brown eyes shot towards the only member of the group she didn't recognize. "Nat! Who is he?"

"HE" flushed, and Tasha patted his arms. "Spencer Reid, works with the FBI." Spencer nodded in greeting. "Spence, this is the team: my partner Clint, his wife Laura, you know Pietro and Wanda, the idiot wearing a white suit is Sam Wilson, and the dork in baby blue is Scott," Both men saluted, "and the two men in traditional suits coming over are Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes."

The men in question looked up when they heard their names. Bucky smiled brightly. "You must be the FBI nerd?"

"In a nutshell, yes," Spencer agreed. "You're the Winter Soldier."

"Guilty." Bucky grinned. "But hey – at least I don't get my employee's pregnant."

Steve flushed. "It wasn't like that," He tried, but a loud laugh interrupted him.

"Madison was your employee. You had sex: she got pregnant. Please tell me someone taught you about the birds and the bees?"

"Sherlock Holmes," Spencer leaned forward excitedly, holding out his hand. "I've heard all about you. Your use of inductive and deductive reasoning to solve crimes was an investigative breakthrough, at least 85 standard techniques are based off of your processes."

Sherlock stared at the tall man, bemused. "And you are?" He asked lightly, and Spencer flushed.

"Spencer Reid," he introduced. "And this must be Dr. Watson?"

John, standing at Sherlocks side, nodded.

"Yes," he said slowly. "And…I know none of you."

"Right, that's where I come in – " Maddie appeared out of nowhere, her brown curls flying, deep red lips curling into a smirk. "John Watson, friend of Sherlock Holmes, hey. How was your flight?"

John smiled, used to Maddie's random behavior, actually having missed it during the months she'd been away from London. "Long. Why exactly am I here?"

"You're one of the main characters in Scarf Man and Baby Detective," Sherlock rolled his eyes. "Don't you want to meet the author?"

John furrowed his eyebrows. "Isn't it obvious?" He asked slowly.

"Apparently not," Wanda spoke up with a smile. "Hello. I'm Wanda Maximoff, and this is my brother Pietro. We're members of the Avengers."

"As are we." Sam grinned. "I'm Sam Wilson, Falcon."

"And Scott Lang, Ant Man." Scott struck a pose.

"The rest of these idiots are Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow, her boyfriend, Spencer Reid of the FBI, Clint Barton, Hawkeye, and his wife Laura, these goons coming up are Sam Winchester and Castiel," The two men nodded in greeting at the group, "the hunk trying to sneak up behind me is Dean Winchester," John's eyes widened in recognition, and Dean made a face at having been caught, slipping an arm around Maddie's waist. "Then we have Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier," Bucky waved, "and my baby daddy, Steve Rogers,"

Steve flushed and shot Maddie a dirty look, while John gaped at the tall man. "Do you have to be so blasé about it?"

Maddie made a face and stuck her tongue out.

"Wait." Laura looked as shocked as John did. "Captain America is Orie's dad?"

Maddie winked, and Steve made a face.

Laura looked to Tasha for confirmation, tasha nodded seriously, and then the two women burst into laughter. Maddie rolled her eyes.

"I gotta go say hi to some other idiots," Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Please, talk amongst yourselves…or continue to laugh like crazy people." Maddie pointed at Reid. "Your team got the tickets?"

Reid nodded with a grin. "They did. They're so thrilled to come. I hope it wasn't too much trouble to get that extra ticket: we have a new member."

"No problem," Maddie shrugged. "I can get all the tickets I need. Let me know when they get here? I'd love to meet them in person."

"Of course," Spencer promised, and Maddie smiled and nodded, and then pulled Dean with her to go shake some hands.

* * *

"They're cute," Wanda watched the couple with a smile.

"I don't like it," Steve and Clint said at the same time.

Sam Winchester snorted. "They're perfect for each other." He shook his head. "It's actually super creepy. I don't think there's another person in the world who fits Dean as well as Maddie does." He grabbed a glass of wine from a nearby waiter, looking at Cas and jerking his head towards the buffet. "Or vice versa," he added over his shoulder, hurrying to the food, Cas right behind him.

"I still don't like it," Clint muttered.

"Is it the crappy background he rose above that you don't like, or the way he absolutely adores Orie, or gives Maddie whatever she wants?" Laura clapped her hands. "Oh, I know, maybe it's the fine, well-paying job he has with the government, or the amount of time he spends here in Seattle, when he works in Boston. Oh!" Laura poked her husband in the chest. "I know – it's the fact that he's a Bears fan, is that it?"

The rest of the group laughed at Clint's disgruntled expression, but Steve wasn't paying attention, too busy watching Maddie smiling slightly at an over-dressed woman, Dean resting a hand on her back and smiling down at her.

* * *

By the time Maddie made it back to the group, Pietro had finally figured it out, and he was sulking.

"Guys," Maddie pointed at the grown man with his bottom lip poking out. "What's wrong with the giant baby?"

Wanda chuckled. "He finally figured out who the mystery author is."

Maddie and Dean shared a look. "Really?" Dean asked surprised. "You couldn't possibly figure out who knew the Avengers well enough to write a young adult series based off of them,"

"Enhanced is loosely based off of the Avengers," Maddie pointed out with a grin – "I made Steve the bad guy,"

"AND had been to London and knew the detective with an affinity for scarves?" Dean pointed at Sherlock, who, at that very moment, had a gray scarf twined around his neck.

"I didn't use names with the kids books," Maddie shook her head, "So really, it could've been anyone."

"The baby's name in the books is Orie," Sam Winchester pointed out with an eyeroll, and Maddie shrugged.

"Not to mention," Tasha couldn't help herself, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth, "The fact that the adult series SPOOK is about a hunter, a demon, and an angel that fight crime, the hunter and demon being brothers?"

"I still can't believe you made me a demon," Dean muttered, leaning down to murmer into her hair. She turned to him, eyes wide.

"You gave me permission!"

"Like I was going to say no to you," Dean grinned, and Maddie smiled back.

"I want to kiss you on the mouth right now." She said, loud enough for her friends to hear.

"Please don't," Clint asked dryly.

"Kissing will have to wait," Reid looked past their group and waved his hand excitedly. "My team is here!"

While the group waited for Reids team to approach, Tasha explained.

"Behavioral Analysis Unit, huh?" Clint raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like a smart people job."

"Guess it's not for you then," Maddie shot, and Clint made a face.

"Children," Laura sighed, before smiling at Reid. "It sounds fascinating. "And you have to travel for work?"

"Often," Reid confirmed. "This is my boss, Aaron Hotchner, our press liaision Jennifer Jareau,"

"JJ, please," the pretty blonde woman smiled at the group.

"David Rossi and Emily Prentriss," The older dark haired man and younger woman on his arm smiled.

"The Avengers," Rossi smiled, "And friends."

"Sherlock Holmes," Emily scrutinized the tall brunette. She smirked. "I've met your brother."

Sherlock sniffed. "I'm the attractive one," he said stiffly, and Emily smiled.

"I can see that," she agreed.

"Anyway," Reid interrupted slowly, eyeing the two for a moment. "Derek Morgan and Penelope Garcia."

"Garcia?" Maddie smiled at the brightly gowned woman. "Maddie Sinclair – It's so great to finally meet you!"

Garcia beamed at Maddie. "You! You're even more beautiful than your IM's portrayed! It's so great to see your real face!"

"It's not much to look at," Maddie snickered, "But I think I'll keep it."

"I like it," Dean said loyally. Maddie rolled her eyes and turned to say something sassy, but she froze at the sound of a new voice.

"Eh, it's not so bad."

* * *

The look on Maddie's face – it was like she'd seen a ghost. Her face lost all color in the span of seconds and her eyes widened to take up almost her whole face, her jaw dropping open.

She whirled around to stare at the man just on the edge of the group, wearing a black suit, one hand in the pocket of his slacks, the other holding a wine glass, his smile cautious, his blue eyes bright. One dimple peeked out of his right cheek, and had eyes only for Maddie.

They considered each other silently for a moment. Then Maddie broke the silence.

"Reid," She snapped. "Tell me the name of this person before I go entirely insane and give in to my crazy thoughts."

Reid opened his mouth, but the man spoke first.

"Insanity is relative," He said, his voice deep, and smooth. He quirked an eyebrow, and the practiced move made Dean want to bundle Maddie into his arms and whisk her away, but she seemed so brittle, that one wrong move might break her, so he stayed still. "Who's to say your thought are crazy if you don't seek confirmation?"

"I don't need to voice them to know they're crazy," She retorted, her voice strangely raspy.

The man tilted his head, his blonde hair resettling with the shift. "Well, I won't judge." The man promised. "What's got you thinking, Mads?"

The phrasing was odd, and the familiarity in which he shortened Maddie's name had Dean bristling, but Maddie took a step towards him.

"I think that you look an awful lot like a person who couldn't possibly be here," she explained quickly. "But that's a crazy thought."

"Would it be less crazy if I was just thinking the same thing?"

"Yes," Maddie answered. "Because you don't know what I'm thinking – you only know what you're thinking, so we could be thinking very different things, and in fact we are thinking very different things, of course we are, because we can't be thinking the same thing, because if we were we'd both be crazy."

"Well what's so wrong with being crazy?" The man stepped closer.

"You're not who I think you are," Maddie's voice was quiet, almost a whisper.

"Why not?" The man pressed. "I'm certain you're exactly who I think you are – and if you are, and you're here, then why can't I be who you're thinking of, and be here too?"

"Because…that's crazy," Maddie insisted, but her voice was weak. The man smiled and took one step closer, and now the two were almost touching.

"Theo," Maddie said in a warning tone.

The man cocked his head, raised one eyebrow, and smirked. "Yes?" He asked, and Maddie took three steps away from him.

"Theo," She said again.

"Maddie," His smirk turned into a smile. "Do you want to dance?"

"No!" Maddie and Dean spoke at the same time, and Maddie whirled around, finally remembering that Dean was still there.

"Yeah," He said dryly. "I'm a real person."

Maddie grimaced. "I'm sorry," She admitted. "I think I've officially gone insane."

"That's okay," Dean shrugged. "I like you crazy." He jerked his head.

"So uh...Who's the idiot?"

* * *

 **Who's the idiot, INDEED.**

 **More Chapters on the 10th!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	6. Surprises

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

"Who's _the idiot?"_

"That's…" Maddie paused, as if looking for an easy explanation, but she came up blank. "Okay, so, he's actually,"

But suddenly the lights were dimming and a man wearing a gray suit appeared at Maddie's side, pulling on her arm and intent on whisking her away.

"It's time," The new arrival squeaked in a high voice.

Maddie smiled apologetically at Dean, shot a look at the other man, and then moved towards the stage. The man – Theo, Maddie had called him, shrugged and watched her walk away with a smile.

"You know this guy how?" Tasha asked her boyfriend in a loud whisper. Reid shrugged, just as confused as everyone else.

"Theo Bradley," He introduced slowly. "Our newest recruit."

"I don't like him," Clint, Dean, and Steve, spoke up at the same time.

And Theo Bradley simply smiled genially at the group.

* * *

Everyone stared dumbly at each other, then at Theo, and Theo maintained his easy smile despite the scrutiny he was under from everyone, his team included. Dean opened his mouth, eyebrows furrowed, and everyone leaned forward in anticipation, but then a man on stage was clearing his throat into the mic, quickly gathering everyone's attention.

"Welcome," he smiled brightly at the crowd, "For joining us for this auspicious moment. Alexander Operations," He began, "a small organization twenty years ago, is now a household name. You wear our clothing brands, read authors born out of our publishing company, eat and drink from restaurants and bars and shops that we've founded, and use technology created from our own labs. And this year," the man raised a glass, "was our best year yet, and so we gather together to celebrate!

"Scientists and authors and shop owners and clothing designers, you work in different fields, but creativity runs strong in each and every one of your veins! Creativity and uniqueness are what Alexander Operations is all about, and we would like to celebrate a few specific individuals that have really made Alexander Operations GREAT." The man pulled out a stack of index cards.

"We'll start with coffee enthusiast Brock DiStefano, who started this year with one small coffee shop and now has hundreds, all across the united states!"

A short, thin man with long brown hair pulled into half bun smiled and waved, stepping onto the stage. He spoke for a few moments, but the group surrounding stranger Theo James preferred to watch him with narrowed eyes than to listen. After the man was finished speaking, he moved to the side of the stage, and a clothing designer stepped up next, speaking as well before joining DiStefano on the side of the stage. Then the host stepped forward, beaming.

"The reveal most of you have been waiting for," he began excitedly, and Dean finally looked away from Theo James to look at the stage, "the versatile author talented enough to enthrall readers of all ages, who has released three successful series in the last 9 months, and has only recently been found out to be one author, instead of three. And now, you get a real name AND a face, to assign all that brilliance to: introducing, Madison Sinclair!"

* * *

Maddie climbed onto the stage, smiling and shooting a wink in her friends direction, pausing on Dean's face. He smiled and hooted, the others around him raising their voices as well, Clint and Bucky amongst the loudest. "Sup," She said, and the room went silent, waiting for more words of wisdom from the famous author. Maddie chose instead to smirk and stand there silently.

"Tell us, Miss Sinclair," The host said when he realized Maddie wasn't going to continue speaking, "where do you get your ideas?"

Maddie tilted her head as she thought, then she nodded. "Reality," She began seriously, "is often disgustingly normal. But if you look hard enough, there's always a string of crazy buried deep within the tangles of that normality. All I do," she smiled, "Is pull on that thread. And sometimes, I don't even have to pull on it; it unravels all on its own." She shot an unreadable look at Theo, and he beamed back. "I guess," she concluded with a sigh, "Crazy doesn't always equate bad. Uncomfortable, yes," She nodded. "unwelcome? Always." She tilted her head, and the audience hung on her every word. "But bad? Not so much.

"Crazy is a lot of things – but my favorite thing about crazy? It always makes for a great story." She winked and then stepped away from the mic, and the audience burst into loud applause.

"Miss Sinclair has the final installment of both her adult and young adult novels coming out this fall, and two more installments of her children's novel due this year, with more to come the following year. And perhaps," the host smiled at Maddie, "a new series or two?"

"We'll see," Maddie rolled her eyes. "Until today, life has been surprisingly lacking in the crazy department."

"Well," the host smiled slyly, "Perhaps our final honoree will help you in that regard." He turned to regard the audience.

"It is a great honor to introduce to you all The Founder and CEO of Alexander Operations, Brian Alexander!"

* * *

The applause was quiet in surprise, but at the sight of a tall man stepping onto the stage, his gray suit immaculate, his smile charming, his gray hair thinning, the applause picked up quickly. The man approached the mic, his eyes randomly darting towards Maddie, who raised in eyebrow in surprise at the direct eye contact. Both of her eyebrows rose at the quick wink he shot her way – did she know him?

* * *

"It is an honor," The deep voice spoke confidently, "to stand alongside so many successful people. The knowledge that I was able to offer them that outlet for their creativity is so humbling. I am proud to know that I have been a part of the effort to change this world, and for the better. My aim is to continue to affect this world in a positive manner, and I am pleased to announce that just today, I have been a part of a wonderful opportunity that will change the world as we know it." Maddie, along with most of the audience, murmured to themselves in surprise. Mr. Alexander simply smiled and continued to speak. "Allow me to introduce Dr. Url Knott, who will explain further."

And suddenly Brian Alexander was standing beside Maddie, as an older man wearing a rumpled suit, strode up. He spoke without breathing, so close to the mic that it shrieked with feedback every few moments, using six syllable words that no one could follow.

"Hey," Maddie leaned closer to the man at her side, voice low, "Mind interpreting what the brainiac is saying – into English?" Brian Alexander shot Maddie a look that was too familiar. "Come on, Miss Sinclair," he teased, "you're bright. I'm sure you can follow along."

Maddie furrowed her eyebrows as she listened for a few minutes.

* * *

"Why is everyone acting like they know Maddie?" Dean growled.

"What do you mean?" His brother asked, confused.

"First pretty boy over there," Theo made a face, objecting to the nickname, but Dean continued, "and then that clown."

For Maddie was intent on listening, and she didn't notice the way Brian Alexander leaned closely to her, a large smile on his face as he watched her think.

"You mean her boss?" Cas shook his head. "She does work for him. The likelihood that they have met –"

"Is slim," Reid said suddenly. "Brian Alexander has thousands of employees, and though she's helped him make a lot of money, Maddie is still just one of many authors that his publishing company represents.

"So could he stop looking at her like he knows her?" Dean grumbled.

"Well," Pietro spoke up diplomatically, "It might not be very likely, but maybe they do know each other."

* * *

"Okay," Maddie finally said lowly, unaware of the scrutiny she was under. "So this dude somehow hardwired your brain to the internet – or something?"

Alexander inclined his head. "In layman's terms, yes." He agreed.

"So it's all in there then?" Maddie stared in interest at the man's head. "Everything the internet has to offer is rumbling around in that skull of yours?"

Alexander shot her an amused look. "Yes."

"Well – is that very safe?" Maddie asked crossing her arms. "I mean, there's a lot of scary things on the web."

"Too right you are," Alexander's voice was light, his smile sly. Maddie's eyes narrowed. "Too bad Mr. Alexander here didn't realize that before he opened his mind up to a well of dark databytes."

"Why did you just refer to yourself in the third person?" Maddie asked lowly.

But instead of answering Maddie's question, Mr. Alexander, or whoever he was, asked a question of his own.

"And what do you think?" He turned to make direct eye contact with Maddie.

"Of what?" She asked warily.

"Of Mr. Brian Alexander's legacy?" Maddie furrowed her eyebrows, because the way this guy was speaking was so familiar –

"Of what he's created, of the reflection of himself?" Okay, that was VERY familiar to Maddie, and she inhaled slowly through her mouth – because she thought she'd been thinking crazy thoughts about Reid's co-worker earlier? THESE thoughts were the real crazy ones.

* * *

"What's the likelihood that Stark was capable of completely wiping Ultron out of the internet like he said?" She probed. Either the man at her side would think she was crazy, or,

"Miniscule." Brian Alexander, who Maddie was realizing was no longer Brian Alexander, smirked. "The internet is vast, and the nooks and crannies are many. To say that hiding from Mr. Stark's bloodhound AI is an understatement.

"So Brian Alexander opened up his mind to an avalanche of information and you took your chance and overrode his system then? Is that what happened…Ultron?"

Blue eyes smiled proudly down at Maddie. "You were always smart," He said approvingly. "Perhaps your son will blessed with your intelligence, hmm?"

The mention of Orie was a douse of freezing water on Maddie's system. "What are you doing?" She snapped.

Ultron, raised one of Brian Alexander's eyebrows. "Isn't it obvious?" He asked lihglty. "I'm saying hello – to my favorite person."

* * *

Maddie would've said more – or maybe punched the guy in the face – or done something dramatic, but then he was stepping back towards the mic and speaking and then there was clapping and then the music resumed, and Ultron took his stolen body and disappeared into the crowd – and Maddie's mind was whirling.

She was in desperate need of an objective perspective, and so she jumped off the stage and hurried towards her friends.

"Bradley," She spoke harshly, reaching for a warm hand, "How about that dance now?"

* * *

Dean watched the blonde stranger whirl HIS girlfriend into a waltz, the two speaking quickly, heads bent together, and he groaned in frustration.

"What," He turned to the equally bewildered group beside him, "the HELL," he turned back to his girlfriend, who'd been acting funny since that co-worker of Reid's had shown up, "is going on?"

But his brother, his best friend, and the rest of the group, despite their closeness to Maddie, were just as bewildered.

* * *

 **SO MUCH IS HAPPENING.**

 **But Ultron though...am I right?!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	7. Waltz

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

I _was 16 when I first met him. He was working, at the coffee shop across the street from our high school. He was taking these cheerleaders orders, and they were all giggles and flashing cleavage, and he looked…bored. He smiled and rang them up, but his gaze stayed firmly on their faces, and his smile was more a grimace than anything else._

 _They were done ordering but still talking when I walked in. His eyes snapped to mine so quickly that I froze, and I NEVER freeze. Then his smile was deepening, becoming something real, and crinkles appeared next to his eyes, and I remembered to move._

 _I took slow, measured steps towards the register, and he brusquely asked the girls to step aside and they did so, disgruntled._

 _When I got to the front, he smiled and the crinkles got deeper, and he said "Hi."_

 _I remember taking a moment to look at my reflection in a nearby window._

 _It was me, wearing ripped jeans and a hoodie three sizes too big, my gray backpack worn and ripping by the straps. My hair was ratty and thrown up in a bun that was more tangles than hair. I had dark circles under my eyes and no makeup on._

 _It was just me. But when he smiled at me that first time and I couldn't look away from the crinkles and he just said "Hi," I didn't feel like "just" anything._

 _He looked at me and I felt like an actual person._

* * *

Theo Bradley looked exactly the same.

Same blue eyes, same stupid dimple, same loose blonde hair that made him look like a surfer.

Maddie made a face. "You look the same," She finally said.

"You don't," He shook his head. "You're a completely different person."

"Falling into some freaky alternate universe can do that to a person," she said dryly.

"Well," Theo's head tilted and a few locks of hair fell into his face. "I'm here too, and I look the same."

"Yeah," Maddie snorted. "You popped up in an alternate universe and what? Joined the FBI? You were going to do that anyway."

"Yes," Theo said diplomatically. "But I had prior knowledge," He winked, "that helped speed my application along, thank you very much."

Maddie snickered. "By-the-book Bradley, cheating his way into the FBI?" She shook her head. "It really is a different universe."

"But a successful one; for both of us," Theo raised an eyebrow. "An author, Mads? That's spectacular!"

"Well, I look different because I am different," Maddie shrugged. "Things have been pretty crazy around here."

"Really? What has Madison Grace Sinclair been up to?"

Maddie made a face. "Well – I kind of crashed the Avengers party in Sokovia," Maddie trailed off because while Maddie had always disliked movies, Theo had LOVED them, and the widening of his eyes said he knew what she was talking about.

"Avengers age of Ultron?" he sqeaked. "You were there?"

"Met Ultron himself," Maddie confided. "We were friends, for about ten minutes."

Theo's eyes bugged out. "friends," he said in surprise before throwing his head back and laughing loudly. "Merlin, Maddie, only you."

Maddie grinned. "What? I've always loved the bad boys,"

"And yet you ended up with me," Theo's smile softened, and Maddie's grin turned into a grimace.

"The worst part about universe hopping was that I left you behind," Maddie said truthfully. Theo attempted to pull her closer, but she placed a hand on his chest. "You were gone," she said slowly.

"And you moved on," Theo realized. "Please tell me he's ugly."

Maddie huffed. "You've heard of him. Pretty famous around here actually," Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Captain America?"

Theo's mouth dropped open in surprise. "No!" He gasped. "Really?"

"Well, I mostly used him for sex," Maddie admitted. "He only lasted a few months."

"He's here," Theo's gaze sought out the tall blonde hero. "So you still keep in touch?"

"We kind of have to," Maddie snorted. "He's the father of my son."

* * *

Maddie was starting to enjoy the look Theo got every time he was surprised: mouth open, eyes bugged out, eyebrows raised and disappearing underneath his hair.

"You – and him – kid?"

"His names Orion," Maddie confirmed. "He's a year and a half, and he's my world." Maddie caught sight of something over Theo's shoulder, and she made a face. "Or, most of my world anyway."

"Steve Rogers was your rebound," Theo chuckled at the thought. "And now he's your baby daddy. You don't settle for average, do you?" Maddie shrugged, and Theo spun Maddie, taking the opportunity to readjust, so that he wasn't holding her as closely as before. "Well, woman like you? You're obviously not single. Which one is he?"

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "One hint, three guesses. I like em' bad," She repeated, and Theo's eyebrows furrowed as he thought.

Maddie's little group was filled with the good guys – in reality all of them were good guys. But some of them – Theo squinted as he recalled the tall man with the freckles that had been right by Maddie's side the whole evening, as he recognized how easily Maddie had leaned into the man all night. Theo's eyes widened as he realized how the man was familiar.

"Oh my god," He gasped, his face taking on that surprised look again. "You're sleeping with Dean Winchester?!"

"Worse," Maddie said happily. "I'm dating him."

* * *

Theo shook his head. Then he opened his mouth, but nothing would come out, so he just shook his head again.

"Enough about my love life. You know how I said Ultron and I were buds back in the day?"

"Yes," Theo nodded, but his expression was confused.

Really? Dean Winchester?

"Well, apparently Iron Idiot didn't do a very good job of wiping Ultron out of the internet because he's been hiding there for the last two years, and my new boss was just stupid enough to download the virus that is Ultron into his body and Ultron took him over in some kind of weird internet brain possession thing – and Ultron knows that I knows but he might still think we're friends, so maybe he won't actually hurt me, but he knows about my son and that's a big friggin no-no, if you know what I mean, but uh, actually maybe you don't? You've not known me as a mom…well, newsflash, I'm very protective, and that stupid face brought up my kid, so obviously, now I have to commit murder for the second time – but I need help moving the body. So. Are you in?"

Theo blinked, trying to process the sheer mass of words Maddie had just blurted out, but one thought, something she'd said earlier, finally caught up with him.

"How old did you say your son was?" He asked vaguely, and Maddie huffed.

"I was hoping you could be objective about this," she said seriously. "But you're such…a civilian. Of course we'll have to involve the others. Come on."

* * *

Maddie grabbed Theo's wrist and pulled him off the dance floor, towards the friends she'd made, and Theo followed dumbly, trying to do the math.

"Idiots." Maddie greeted, letting go of Theo to cross her arms. "We have a problem."

"Yes." Clint mimicked Maddie's stance. "We do," he agreed. "Who's the punk?"

"Theo Bradley," Maddie introduced impatiently. "Works with Reid at the BAU, anyways, he's not important,"

"Good to hear," Dean growled. "Was he ever important?" His voice is dark, raspy. "To you, specifically."

Maddie's mouth fell open. "Sure, I guess," She admitted slowly. "Anyways, bigger problems,"

"Like what?" Wanda asked.

Maddie just narrowed her eyes, and leveled a glare at the group in front of her, and they quickly dropped the attitude in the face of her anger.

"What?" Pietro asked suspiciously.

"Is it that bad?" Tasha added.

"Explain, Sinclair," Steve said harshly.

"Well," Maddie hissed, "Before I do that, I highly suggest we remove ourselves to a more secure spot, preferably one that serves waffles at midnight, to discuss this further."

* * *

"An issue?" JJ shot her boss a look. "That sounds like a national security to me."

"A federal matter for sure," Rossi agreed lightly.

"Internet?" Garcia added quickly. "I know what that is."

Maddie shot them a look. Theo chuckled.

"Looks like you've got the FBI with you."

"You suck, Bradley," She muttered, shooting him a smile while she said it.

Theo returned the smile with a bigger, brighter replica of his own.

Pietro beamed. "I get it now!" He slapped Steve on the back. "It was a joke!"

"What?" Maddie tore her eyes away from Theo. "What the hell are you talking about, Pie?"

"Steve, fathering your child: it was a joke."

Maddie furrowed her eyebrows. "Why would you say that?" She snapped.

"Well," Pietro chuckled. "Obviously this man –" he pointed at Theo, "is the father. Look," Pietro pointed. "He even has a dimple in the same place."

Theo sucked in his cheeks, removing possibility of his sudden audience to be able to catch sight of the mentioned dimple, and Maddie's face went carefully blank.

"And now," she said slowly, "I need a drink."

* * *

 _Theo Bradley chased me for years._

 _It wasn't until was years out of high school and he'd already graduated college, years of him chasing me, that I let him take me on a date, and even though I'd accepted, I didn't think it would work._

 _I didn't think that WE would work._

 _But we worked all too well._

 _One date turned into two, then three, then we'd been seeing each other for a month, then two months, then a year._

 _Then he told me he loved me._

 _I didn't know how to feel about that. I was nervous, and cross…and nervous._

 _Because maybe I reciprocrated._

 _But maybe I didn't know how to say the words out loud._

 _And two days after he'd told me he loved me, before I'd gotten up the nerve to return the sentiment, I was falling through the subway and befriending a robot._

 _The things I would do to get out of admitting my feelings, huh?_

* * *

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	8. Burgers

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

The diner Maddie had marched her intrigued audience to was only two blocks away, the storefront bright and cheery despite the late hour, and Maddie threw the double doors open and strode towards a large table in the corner, not waiting for the hostess to seat them.

The hostess, a brunette with a thin nose and a wide smile, didn't seem fazed by Maddie's rudeness.

"Bad day?" She sympathized, and Maddie just shot her a look.

"It's the end of the world," she said seriously, and the woman smiled.

"It's a slow night, I've got you," she winked. "Hey Winchester."

"Kacey," Dean tried to smile, but failed. "We're gonna need one of everything tonight."

"Oh." The woman's eyebrows rose. "So it IS bad." She nodded. "I'll get right on it."

As the woman strode off, Maddie slid into the booth, expression black. Bucky slid in to sit on one side, and Dean flopped next to her. The rest of the group made to grab chairs, seating themselves silently, watching Maddie warily.

* * *

One side of the table, Maddie had commandeered. Bucky and Clint sat on one side of her, Dean and Sam on the other. Cas started the next side of the table, John seated to his left and Sam on his right. Sherlock, and three of the BAU team completed that side of the table. Starting the opposite side of the table was Laura, seated next to her husband, Nat to her left and the rest of the BAU team on that side. Across from Maddie sat the rest of the Avengers: and the newcomer. Steve and Pietro had manhandled "Theo" to sit in between them, directly across from Maddie, and the handsome young man was the recipient of several glares.

"So," Theo seemed impervious to the glares. "Are you going to tell them, or should I?"

Maddie's eyes narrowed. "We slept together years ago," She snapped. "I hardly think it's their business NOW."

And Theo choked. "What?" He shook his head quickly, running a hand through his hair. "No! I wasn't talking about – of COURSE it's nobody's – I'm talking about why you were freaking out!"

Maddie tilted her head. "Oh – so the fact that my ex showed up out of the blue when he should've been happily married to one of my sisters in an alternate reality isn't enough of a reason to freak out?"

Theo sputtered again, and eyebrows raised around the table.

* * *

For the BAU team, they assumed "alternate reality" was a code for something.

For the others? Well, Maddie had had to come from SOMEWHERE. But she was supposed to have been a one-time thing.

The mere presence of the blonde man seated across from Maddie said otherwise.

* * *

"Sisters?" He grimaced. "Your sisters are five and ten."

"Meg is 17," Maddie argued. "That's only a seven-year difference: perfectly doable."

"Well, I'll keep that in mind," Theo rolled his eyes. "If I ever get back to that dimension."

"Pause." Pietro held up a hand. "I hate to interrupt this riveting conversation but," He frowned. "You were serious before? Steve is actually the father of your child?"

"Yes," Maddie said firmly. At the same time as she spoke, Clint and Bucky answered Pietro's question as well.

"Hopefully." Clint shot the newcomer a glare.

"Unlikely." Bucky added brightly.

Maddie whipped her head to glare at Clint, then whirled to turn her glare on Bucky.

"I hate both of you," she muttered, her arms crossing angrily.

"So you were dating this guy?" Tasha leaned forward eagerly.

"Wait." Steve made a face, a horrible thought occurring to him. "Was I a rebound?"

"Hold on." Laura shook her head. "I don't think this is why Maddie called us together,"

"But this is more interesting!" Scott grinned.

Theo snorted. "You won't say that when you find out why we're here."

"Why are we here?" Aaron Hotchner asked, eyebrow raised.

* * *

Despite his cool exterior, Hotch loved drama when it didn't involve him.

* * *

"Internet!" Penelope Garcia raised a hand, smiling.

* * *

She knew what the internet was.

* * *

"I believe," Sherlock drawled, observing Garcia with interest, "that it might be a bit more complicated than just the internet. And hopefully I am somehow involved, I wouldn't want to be wasting my time." He said pointedly, and Maddie rolled her eyes.

"If you really want to leave Sherlock, there's the door. Although," her head tilted slightly. "You are potentially involved. As the night drags on, I'm more and more convinced that I'm NOT a murderer."

"Of COURSE you're not a murderer!" Sam Winchester chuckled. "You wouldn't hurt a fly!" The rest of the table nodded in agreement. Only Dean and Theo made a face.

Sherlock snorted. "So I should not bring up the man you electrocuted to death?"

"He electrocuted himself!" Maddie said hotly. "It just so happened that I was standing there at that exact moment and that the sparks started flying right after he threatened to blackmail me and then I said I would end him."

* * *

Sherlock raised an eyebrow and Bucky slowly scooted his chair away from Maddie and everyone else looked slightly stunned. Maddie sighed. "Besides," She continued slowly. "I don't think I did that anymore. Apparently," she grimaced. "I have a friend hiding out on the internet: other than Garcia, that is."

Garcia beamed and Maddie looked directly at Steve. "And also apparently, he's found a way out."

"Who exactly," Steve asked, eyes narrowing, "are we talking about?"

"Waffles!" The waitress from before appeared, plates piled high with waffles and butter and syrup, and the sudden tension around the table dissipated as Maddie clapped her hands and imperiously reached for her fork.

* * *

Dean smiled as he watched Maddie wiggle excitedly, waiting for her plate to reach her. "Waffles," she muttered under her breath as a plate appeared in front of her.

Other plates were distributed around the table, some surprised by the breakfast foods in front of her, some digging into the food without complaint, and others looking distastefully down at the syrup-covered waffles.

A plate of French toast was placed in front of Sherlock, and he sniffed.

"I'm glad you remembered," he said in his snotty voice, and the waitress grinned.

"I spit in it," she said cheerily, breezing by Sherlock, who was now staring worriedly at the food in front of him.

The waitress paused behind Steve and Theo. "Who're the blonde guys?" She asked, head tilted.

Maddie rolled her eyes, and pointed, introducing them with her mouth full.

"Baby daddy," she explained, pointing first at Steve. "Ex," she pointed at Theo next.

"Oh." The waitress blinked dumbly. Then she winked at Dean. "You moved up in the world."

"Back off, he's mine!" Maddie snapped, but she smiled at the waitress. "Take one of the other ones."

"Hmm." The brunette stared appraisingly at Steve, then at Theo. "I'll think about it."

As the waitress moved away, Maddie shoved another bite into her mouth, and the others slowly dug into their food, all except for Theo.

"Uh," he said after a moment. "So – when are you going to bring up the fact that Ultron just pretty much possessed your boss?"

Utensils froze and eyes widened, and Maddie made a face.

"Look at what you've done." She said coldly.

"You've ruined my appetite."

* * *

The table descended into chaos after Theo spoke, and Maddie let the idiots talk over themselves.

"This is an Avenger issue," Tasha pushed,

"Well, your ISSUE is under investigation for a murder I was going to commit, so I think I have a say in this,"

"I know what the internet is!" Garcia insisted,

Dean looked at his brother and best friend and they shrugged. Dean sighed, rolled his eyes, and whistled, and the table finally went quiet.

* * *

Dean looked down at Maddie. "You spoke to the guy. Ultron was really in control?"

"Yep." Maddie locked eyes with Dean, preferring to look at him than at anyone else.

"And? What was his demeanor? He didn't try to hurt you?"

Maddie's eyebrows furrowed. "No – it was weird. He seemed like he just wanted to say hi – said I was smart, congratulated me on my success. He was super friendly actually."

"So he's no immediate threat?" Dean pressed. "You don't think he's got any crazy schemes up his sleeves? He's not going to do anything drastic?"

"Honestly?" Maddie shrugged. "He was kind of acting like a tourist; wanted to take in the sights, or whatever. He knew a lot about everything, but he has been living in the internet, so that's not much of a surprise." She finally turned to the rest of the table. "I mean, I wouldn't let him stay as he is, but there's no reason to go in guns blazing."

"So I'll take him in gently," Steve tried.

"You're an enemy, Rogers," Theo shook his head. "Best it be someone who hasn't blatantly tried to murder him."

"But still someone the public will trust." Tasha raised an eyebrow and turned to her date. "Someone with authority."

"Like the BAU, perhaps?" Hotch surmised. "We'll bring him in peacefully."

"Thanks," Maddie shot the man a genuine smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to take my boyfriend home and go kiss my son." She nodded resolutely.

"Bradley?" Theo straightened when she said his name. "Do me a favor - get out of my sight."

"Cold." Theo observed, but he smiled wistfully.

"I'm trying to UN-complicate my life," Maddie huffed, pushing her chair back. "Not make everything weird."

"Too late," Cas said seriously, and grimaced in agreement.

"Well, hopefully I can stop it before it gets worse. See you guys."

The rest of the table watched as Dean and Maddie moved to the exit, one of Dean's hands possessively resting on Maddie's back, his green eyes shooting one last glare towards the two blonde men who'd upended his life that day.

* * *

The short walk back to Maddie's house was awkward.

Maddie blamed the awkwardness on Dean.

He was just being too quiet!

"You're pissed, aren't you?" She finally spoke. Dean grunted and she rolled her eyes, nudging him slightly. "Come on, babe, I know you're mad. Just tell me why you're pissed."

"You're kidding right?" Dean shot Maddie a wide-eyed look. "You told me your ex was dead!"

"Well, I thought he was dead." Maddie explained quickly. "Dead to me, anyway. How did I know he time jumped too?"

Dean continued speaking, his voice raising as he got angrier. "Did you ever actually break up with him, or did you just time-jump?"

"Dean," Maddie tried to interrupt, but the stubborn Winchester was on a roll,

"SO technically you're still dating right now!"

"Yes," Maddie interrupted quickly, "- I'm dating YOU."

"Yeah," Dean snorted disbelievingly. "For how long?"

Maddie stared dumbly up at her boyfriend, the two of them now standing on her front stoop. "What the crap, Winchester?" She finally asked.

"Now that your perfect boyfriend is back, when are you going to dump me so you can get with him?"

"Dean – " Maddie snorted,

"Or are you going to throw me over for the baby daddy? Or are they the same guy, perhaps?"

And Maddie had had enough. She knew Dean had a right to be angry – but now she was angry too.

"You're an idiot," she huffed shoving open her front door angrily.

"Well which one is it?" Dean called after her. "Me, or the super-hero, or the ex?"

"Right now? None of you!" Maddie opened her mouth to continue explaining, but she froze at the sight in front of her.

"Oh, I see how it is, you're just going to play all of us at the same time!" Dean continued to bluster as he moved forward, only going silent when he caught sight of what Maddie was staring at.

* * *

The woman they'd left Orie with, the babysitter?

She was sprawled unconscious on the kitchen floor.

Her chest moved, so she was still breathing.

The front door had been unlocked – Maddie had locked it when they'd left.

The door was unlocked. The babysitter was unconscious.

And Ultron had shown up out of the blue and asked about Maddie's son.

Suddenly Maddie's world was dropping away.

* * *

And even as Dean dropped to the ground to check on the woman, before rushing off to check Orie's room, Maddie stood frozen.

She didn't have to look in her son's room or search the house to know what had happened.

Orie wasn't there.

Someone had taken him.

And Maddie knew exactly who it was.

* * *

 **Plot Twists abound.**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	9. Missing

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

The next moment that Maddie was aware of her surroundings, there was an intense pair of eyes staring at her: too close to her.

Luckily the eyes reared back quickly enough, blinking in relief.

"Guys!" Clint called from where he'd been crouched in front of a seated Maddie, "She's back."

* * *

And Clint's attentive stare was replaced with Steve's worried gaze, and knowing what she knew, what she couldn't seem to let herself forget, not even for a moment, Maddie flinched away from the man. She didn't even have a chance to open her mouth, to apologize or explain or anything, before Steve was gone, replaced by a pair of blue eyes that made Maddie relax instead of tense up.

* * *

"You're back then?" Bucky kept his voice low, his expression light.

"He's gone." Maddie's voice was raspy, her words slightly slurred as if she'd forgotten what words were, as if she'd been sitting for hours.

Bucky's eyebrows immediately lowered. "We're going to get him back," He vowed fiercely. "We'll find him."

Maddie blinked quickly.

"Dean," She said suddenly, and Bucky was replaced by Dean in a matter of seconds. Unlike the others, Dean didn't hesitate to reach for her, and she reached back just as desperately, their fingers tangling effortlessly.

"What do you need?" He asked, voice low.

* * *

He was aware of the audience, of the argument he and Maddie needed to have, of the man Dean still needed to murder, but none of that was important right now.

Not when his boy was missing. Not when his lady was breaking.

"Tell me," he insisted when Maddie remained silent, and her fingers tightened almost painfully against him.

"Just…" Her breathing was irregular, her movements sluggish, but her grip simply tightened. "Don't let go." She ordered. "Please – don't…don't let go."

And Dean nodded, his voice tight and his eyes bright, and simply held on.

* * *

The police came. Who called them, it wasn't certain, but at four in the morning, every light on in Maddie's home and the place filled to the brim with people, there were a lot of options.

When Dean had realized Orie was missing, he pulled Maddie's phone out of her bag and dialed the number simply labeled 23-19.

And Steve Rogers had answered, Dean had snapped "Orie's missing," and in less than twenty minutes the Avengers were piled into Maddie's living room for the second time that day.

* * *

Dean had taken those twenty minutes to call his brother and best friend, get ahold of a doctor for the unconscious sitter, and get Maddie seated, pulling off her heels and throwing a blanket over her shoulders, letting Maddie sit, blinking slowly and doing little else.

* * *

John Watson had arrived, medical bag in hand, and seen to the sitter. Sherlock had inspected the room, then run upstairs to view the nursery and the rest of the house: searching for clues.

* * *

Sam had shown up and wrapped his brother into a tight hug, and then did the same to a very unresponsive Maddie. Then Sam and Cas had asked their own questions, investigating in the ways only they knew how.

* * *

For Sherlock, for Cas, for Clint, for Steve, and for Dean, Orie was more than Maddie's son. He was a little boy with a personality and an infectious smile that had endeared him to the adults in specific ways, and they all felt his absence acutely.

For Sherlock, John stood by him, kept him focused on the case, not person, something Sherlock had not had a problem with, until this moment.

For Cas, he and Sam also focused on the case, attempting to discount an "unnatural" aspects, though Cas found himself distracted at odd moments, but the stuffed moose he'd bought Orie the day he'd been born, but the little ceramic angel he'd given Maddie, that Maddie had placed in a place of honor above Orie's crib. Sam helped Cas snap out of these moments, and they did what they could, trying to keep busy.

For Clint, he focused on Maddie. Because he couldn't focus on the missing kid, on the little boy who'd just started calling him "caw caw!" So Clint wrapped the blanket around Maddie's shoulders tightly and watched her eyes closely, waiting for her to come back from wherever she'd hidden in her mind.

* * *

Steve didn't know what to do. His team didn't know how to react. As a father, Steve couldn't be objective. This was his SON.

An inkling of doubt crept in, Pietro's words echoing for a moment in his head. " _He's even got a dimple in the same place,"_

But Steve shoved the errant thought away with a growl.

DNA was no longer relevant. Orie was his son, had been for a year, and a test wasn't going to tell Steve otherwise. This guy didn't get to show up out of nowhere and stake a claim. Claims had already been staked.

And Steve still was still trying to decide if he wanted to share with this WINCHESTER guy – although it looked like Maddie wasn't really going to give him a choice on that one.

But Steve wasn't sure how Maddie felt about the return of her ex (well, OTHER ex), and it was hardly the time to bring it up.

* * *

But then, amongst the officers Steve had called in a panic, who were asking questions directed at Maddie that Dean was answering, Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, stupid dimple in the right cheek had burst in, eyes wide in a panic.

And Dean whirled around, green eyes flashing, and glared so furiously that Theo Bradley The Ex turned sharply and exited without even saying a word.

Steve couldn't help himself. That small action, combined with the way he kneeled in front of Maddie, his sole focus on protecting the woman who clung so tightly to him, protecting her with his body language and answering questions and allowing himself to be her rock.

Dean Winchester had won Steve Rogers respect.

And he didn't even know it.

* * *

Dean was furious.

His boy was missing, his lady was barely holding on, and that GUY bursts in here, how _dare_ he?

He shot the guy one look and then turned his attention back to Maddie, not even noticing how quickly Theo had vacated, too focused on the way Maddie's head fell to rest on his shoulder, a small huff of breath brushing against the collar of his shirt.

"Nice," She said quietly, and Dean couldn't stop himself from stiffening.

"Do you-" He tried to not snap the words so much, but the sentence grated as it left his throat. "Want me to call him back?"

"Why?" Maddie rubbed her forehead lightly against the crease where neck met shoulder, her fingers still tangled with Dean's.

"Because he's," Dean paused again. "He's,"

Maddie's eyebrows furrowed, and then she slowly pulled herself away from Dean, though she left her hands where they were.

"He's nothing," She finished slowly. But her eyebrows lowered further when Dean didn't relax.

"You don't believe me," she realized suddenly.

"You didn't leave him by choice," Dean forced out. He didn't want to talk about this. But she had brought it up. "He's…more."

"More?" Maddie shook her head slowly, her eyes never leaving Dean's face. "More than what? More than you?"

"There's…more. Between you and him. This – we – are less." Dean looked down at their hands. Maddie waited for him to look back up at her. She stared at him unblinking for a long moment.

"Somewhere along the way," she said slowly. "I didn't say the wrong thing, or I didn't say the right thing enough times, or I didn't act, or I acted too much." Now it was Maddie's turn to look down at their hands. She stared at their fingers, at the effortless way they tangled and clung to each other.

"You're it for me. My son –" Maddie took a deep breath, still focused on their hands. "He's my universe, and he's missing, and I'm brittle. You, Dean Winchester, are my world." She looked up at him, and there was so much devastation on her face that Dean's heart clenched. But then Maddie's face was going blank.

"You're my world, and you don't believe me." Her gaze moved their hands one last time, and her voice went so quiet, that Dean almost missed what she said. Then, suddenly she was looking up, her chin tilting determinedly.

* * *

The room froze, and Maddie made eye contact with one of the cops.

"The man who took my son: his name is Brian Alexander. His aim isn't to hurt him, he just needed leverage, so the likelihood that my son is still alive is a good one."

"What makes you think this Alexander guy took your son?"

"And why would he take him?" Two cops shared a look and Maddie leveled a look their way.

"I know Alexander took him. I just don't know why." She raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you go ask him?"

The room stared at each other for a moment before bursting into action.

* * *

Dean watched as Maddie pulled her hands back and stepped away from Dean, her whispered words ringing in his ears.

" _Losing my son has shaken me. But your distrust has shattered me. And all of it is my fault."_

* * *

 **Well this is awkward.**

 **Next two chapters up Sept. 20th!**

 **~CLC~**


	10. Search and Rescue

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

"I don't know what you said, and I don't need to know." Sam shook his head at his brother. "You're an idiot."

"You're adopted." Dean snapped automatically, bristling. The attitude was partially because little brothers weren't supposed to question you - and partially because little brothers were supposed to be on YOUR side - but Dean was too angry to care. "You don't know anything, Sammie, just keep your mouth shut."

Sam grabbed Dean's arm, pulling Deans attention away from the door Maddie had just slammed behind her. "Dean," he said seriously. "You're my brother. I know you, and I can practically see the giant superiority complex you're dealing with. I mean," Sam looked out Maddie's front window, where he could just see a blonde-haired man loitering outside, Steve Rogers nearby and speaking with two of his men. "I can understand why. But you've gotta trust how she feels about you."

Dean shot his brother a glare, and Sam shook his head. "Listen, you're crazy about her!" He shuddered a bit. "Honestly, she scares me a little. But you're happy for the first time in I don't know how long and I will protect that with every fiber of my being, from anything that threatens it. Even if you're the one doing the threatening."

"What does that even mean?" Dean snapped, and Sam just shrugged.

"She loves you, big brother, for reasons I can't fathom. Don't screw it up." Sam caught Cas' eye from across the room, and Sam nodded, leaving his brother to stew in his confused anger.

Dean stared blankly after his brother, more than a little upset at the way he's just been chastised, when he hears a low chuckle come from just behind him. Dean turned and groaned slightly at the sight of the blonde man next to him. "Your brother has a point," Steve Rogers said lowly, and Dean rolled his eyes. "Well I hardly think the competition is going to take my side," he retorted scathingly, and Steve raised an eyebrow.

"You're wrong on both counts there," he said with a shrug. "I'm no threat." But even as he spoke, he shot a wistful look down the hallway that Maddie had disappeared down. "I was just the band aid. You've made her better."

"You're also most likely Orie's father." Dean grunted, because how could he forget that? How could anyone? But Steve just smiled wryly.

"Yes." He agreed simply. "So we better figure out how the hell to get along, shouldn't we? That is," Steve raised an eyebrow, half inquiring and half suspicious, "if you plan on sticking around."

"I'm not the one who would leave," Dean argued, crossing his arms and just barely stopping himself from stomping his foot angrily.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Dean: ever since Orie called me Papa you've had one foot out the door." Dean opened his mouth to interrupt - but maybe the guy wasn't wrong. "Maybe it's because you're afraid of competition. On that front, I'll repeat myself," and Steve raised his hands in surrender, "I'm no threat."

"You two make great babies," Dean finally said grudgingly, because it was a valid point: SO valid in fact, that it bore repeating.

"Another thing we can agree on," Steve admitted practically. "But even when Mads and I were together, she didn't really want me, not even when I was on my best behavior. I've seen you two together for less than 24 hours, and I can tell you: she wants to be with you; your crappy attitude included, apparently." Steve sighed. "You fit her better. I don't mind sharing my son, but I'd only give up his mother to someone who made her happy." And Dean grimaced, because if that were so…

"Yeah, well that's not exactly something I'm doing right now." He admitted.

"Because you've got one foot out the door, and she can see that." Steve said frankly, and Dean made a face, because he'd heard the guy the first time.

"She's the best thing that ever happened to me," He finally responded, "other than my brother. Why would I be the one leaving her?" Dean forced the words out mostly to remind himself than to inform Steve. Because what he'd said was true - Mads was his better half. But Steve was also right: Dean had been backing away the last two days. And Captain Steve Rogers of America was standing in front of him, handing out free advice - it would be stupid not to hear the guys side of things. So Dean uncrossed his arms and turned to face Steve head on. "Why would I do that?" He repeated, and Steve went in for the kill.

"It's called a preemptive strike, Dean. And let me tell you, even as a form of protection, both sides still get hurt." Steve delivered one hard clap on Dean's shoulder, and then he was moving away, to join Bucky and Maddie's frazzled roommate, who was gripping Bucky's metal arm tightly.

It was a few minutes later when a group of police officers coughed lightly to get everyone's attention.

"We have an update," The officer who appeared to be taking the lead was tall, with broad shoulders and white-blonde hair. "Where's the mother?"

"Present," A hoarse voice spoke up, and Dean couldn't stop himself from whirling around to look at her.

Maddie had scrubbed her face clean of make-up, and her previously curly up-do was now just thrown into a high pony on the back of her head. She'd also changed; into gray sweatpants and a long tan cardigan, the bottom of her sweats tucked into thick socks.

She leaned against the wall, her shoulders sagging, but her chin was raised defiantly.

She looked equal parts fragile and strong, and Dean wanted to hold her; but she avoided his gaze and for some reason that small gesture made his heart clench.

"Proceed," She said stiffly, and the officer nodded.

"The BAU sent their team to speak with the individual you accused,"

"Because he did it." Maddie snapped, crossing her arms over her stomach, her eyes narrowing. "He confessed right away, didn't he?"

The officer grit his teeth, but nodded. "He admitted to having a part in taking your son, and allowed the BAU to take him into custody. He's currently in a holding room at the precinct, and the BAU is attempting to interrogate him, but," here the officer grimaced. "He says he'll only speak with you."

Maddie made a face. "Well that sucks trees, because I don't want to talk to him."

The officer in front of her almost rolled his eyes, but he caught himself. "Ma'am," he said seriously, "You're speaking with him is not necessary to my plan."

Dean almost laughed then, and he saw Steve grimace. Bucky and Clint shared grins and leaned forward, and Maddie's eyes narrowed as she stepped forward.

"I'm sorry, your plan?" Maddie's head tilted and her voice went so cold the man in front of her stiffened as if he'd gone frozen. "You seem to misunderstand your presence here." She said slowly. The officer shifted from one foot to the other uneasily, and Maddie caught his moment of weakness, her smile growing sharp.

"I didn't call you, but I'll use your presence. I don't want you here, but you serve a purpose. You are not my boss, and you are not in charge of me."

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "In fact, as officers of the city, where my taxes pay your wages, it would seem that I'm YOUR boss. And not only is the little boy whose missing my son, but his father is Captain Frickin America," The other officers eyebrows raised at Maddie's angry announcement, but Maddie either didn't notice or didn't care - she simply continued to advance on the officer in front of her, her voice raising with every syllable, "so if you thought you were in charge before you walked in here and were still holding on hope throughout this entire conversation, it is only my fondest pleasure to dash those hopes." And the officer in front of her had remained defiant for a few moments after she stopped speaking, but then his shoulders sagged, and Maddie nodded.

"Now." She said briskly, "Are you ready to listen?"

"Yes, ma'am." The officer choked out, and Maddie nodded in satisfaction.

"As I thought." Maddie paused, then smiled slowly. "Your work here is done."

"Excuse me?" The officer snapped, and Maddie's voice went rigid.

"I said, you're done here. You can check in at the office, but this is officially a federal case, and as such, I no longer have need of you. Get the hell out of my house – Now."

The man in front of her looked as if he were struggling internally: as if he weren't sure if he wanted to argue more, leave with his dignity intact, or try and punch her out.

After a long moment of indecision, he finally chose to leave with his dignity.

Well, with what was left of it.

Maddie waited for her door to slam, nodding in satisfaction at the noise. "Avengers?" She addressed, and the group straightened and turned to her. "Ultron sees himself as my ally, and you are the enemy, especially you two." She raised an eyebrow at Wanda and Pietro, and they shrugged in agreement. "As such," Maddie continued, "you don't leave this building unless I will it."

"Let me guess," Clint said dryly, "You don't will it?"

Maddie shrugged. "Not at the moment. I need one of you to contact your old crony; the one who made Ultron? We need to find out how quickly we can find a way to get my poor boss UN-possessed."

"Like some sort of weird technological exorcism?" Sam Wilson said skeptically. "Right. Shall I call in Vision as well? We can see if he can input,"

"Heh, input," Scott muttered,

"Anyway?" Sam rolled his eyes. "I'll see if he has anything else to add."

Maddie nodded. "Sherlock?" She raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged.

"Might I suggest that it would be a good idea to call in that FAVOR now," He said pointedly, and Maddie grimaced.

"I already have," She admitted. "I've got no leverage with your brother anymore."

Sherlock and John shared a look.

"What?" Maddie asked, and Sherlock pulled out his phone and moved to the hallway.

"Let me make a phone call," he said smoothly, and Maddie rolled her eyes.

"Okay then. Cas-" and when Cas looked up, instead of continuing to speak, she tossed him a small bag.

He caught it deftly in one hand, bringing it closer to his face so he could examine it. After a moment he looked up, his eyes wide.

Maddie nodded. "You three look into that," She ordered, eyebrows furrowing. "Gut says it aint good, but here's to hoping otherwise." Cas nodded and handed the bag to Sam, and Dean kept his focus on Maddie, hoping that she would look at him, acknowledge him in some way – but instead she moved to the kitchen.

"And now that I've done my part, I'm going to go sit on the porch and get drunk. The rest of you –" she shot a look at the group. "I'm trusting you will find a way to deal with Ultron. Don't make me regret that."

The slam of the back door shook the floor, and Steve took a deep breath.

"Alright." He said seriously. "Let's find my boy."

Outside, Maddie had about five minutes of awkward silence before she sighed heavily.

"Are you going to come over and talk to me, or just stare at me from my bushes like a creepy stalker?" She called out, and her bushes rustled, a figure emerging sheepishly from them.

"That was super creepy, wasn't it?" Theo Bradley admitted, and Maddie rolled her eyes.

"On a scale of one to ten, it was a 42."

And Maddie Sinclair was a little drunk, and a lot stressed, and very heartbroken. So it might've been a dumb move, but she jerked her head towards the seat next to her, and Theo moved to sit by her.

"So much for uncomplicated, huh?" He said lightly, and Maddie snorted.

"Right. I guess hoping for uncomplicated was too much to ask for," she said regretfully, taking a large swallow from the bottle in her hand. After a moment, she held it out in invitation, and Theo shrugged, and took a drink of his own.

And Theo and Maddie fell into silence, both thinking about a little boy with blue eyes and a dimple in one cheek.

 **Chapter Ten! Sorry about the long interlude: NaNo sucked out my soul, and December got away from me. Next chapter up in a mo!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	11. Negotiations

_Theo would've been a great father._

 _I knew it, and I saw him every day, but you really only had to talk to him for ten minutes to believe it for yourself._

 _Theo had that eternal patience, the energy, the charisma that kids were drawn towards._

 _Fatherhood would've been easy for him._

 _I'd never thought that way about me._

 _I would've been a terrible father._

 _And I didn't have all that high hopes for being a mom, either._

 _But you know, maybe my kid wouldn't have been so upset about having me for a mom if Theo were its dad._

 _At least, that's what I thought, anyway._

 _Then I found myself facing motherhood alone._

 _My God, my kid was going to be a screw up, wasn't he?_

 _No father, AND me for a mom? The odds were NOT in this kids favor._

 _But then Orie was born, and he was the best thing that ever happened to me._

 _He made me want to be better. And for him, I was better._

 _To toot my own horn: I wasn't half bad._

 _And of course, Orie didn't have just me. He had Bucky, and Cas. He had Sam, and Sherlock, and Dean. He had Dean wrapped around his little finger._

 _And Steve._

 _He had Steve too._

 _The one person I never thought Orie would have….was Theo._

 _But even at the end of the day, if my son didn't have any of those people, if Dean actually did get tired of me and left, if Steve started a family of his own and forgot about the rejects, if Bucky ran off and Cas and Sam left with Dean, and Sherlock decided that the distance was greater than our importance, my son would ALWAYS have me._

 _And I would watch the world burn to save my son._

 _So – Ultron? He had no idea what he was dealing with._

 _But he was about to find out._

Maddie woke up with a blanket wrapped around her that she didn't remember having before, a groggy voice asking her in panic "Do I have a penis on my face?"

She blinked quickly a few times, waiting for her vision to clear as the blurry blob in front of her solidified into a Theo.

His eyes were wide in worry. "Do I have a penis on my face?" He asked again, worriedly.

"No," Maddie answered slowly.

There wasn't a PENIS drawn on his face, anyway.

Theo sagged in relief. "Oh thank goodness!" The relief bled away though as he took a good look at Maddie.

She grimaced, because she knew what she looked like. "You don't look like you slept a wink."

"Nightmares," She admitted, throwing the blanket off of her. "I got zero sleep. But," Maddie's eyes unfocused, her eyebrows furrowing. "I do have a plan."

And because Theo had known Maddie since high school, his eyes narrowed worriedly. "On the sanity scale, how crazy is this plan of yours?"

"You want me to give you a number that will make you feel better, or the true answer?"

Theo sighed heavily as he watched Maddie hop up and stretch. "Maybe the less I know – the better." But even as he said it, he leaned forward another question falling out of his mouth. "Is this the kind of plan that requires back up?"

"There's a better likelihood of survival with a second, yes," Maddie admitted a little grumpily. "You remember our mock hostage situation during junior year Criminal Law?"

"I still have nightmares about it, yes," Theo nodded. "Why? Is that –" He choked suddenly, "Maddie NO – please tell me you're not thinking about," But Theo's voice trailed off at the smirk on his ex-girlfriends face.

"NO," Theo repeated forcefully. "Your boyfriend is already trying to think of places to bury my body, if he finds out I helped you with this crazy scheme he'd murder me on live television!"

"Fine," Maddie shrugged airily. "The plan will work with one."

"Maybe I can't argue with the effectiveness of your plan, but you can't deny it's not crazy."

"Of course it's crazy!" Maddie threw her hands in the air, whirling on Theo. "Don't you get it?! We're living in crazy-land, nothing else would work!"

"You haven't even given your friends a chance Mads. What's the point of keeping them around if you're not going to at least try to use them?"

Maddie grimaced, hating the fact that Theo was right. But he didn't understand, as sane as she might look, there was a crippling fear in the pit of her stomach – that despite the heroes in her living room, that even with an entire police force on her side, that her son wouldn't make it, that they wouldn't find him.

And underneath that monumental fear was a tickle of doubt; a shred of fear, that no matter what happened, even if she did get Orie back safe and sound, she'd still lose.

But Maddie had never let herself be ruled by emotions, so she forced the cascade of feeling away and thought about the logic in Theo's words.

"Fine. I'll give the idiots crowding my living room a chance. But if they haven't made any satisfactory progress, then I'm moving on to Plan C."

Plan C. for Crazy. Theo nodded. It wouldn't come to that.

"Fine."

The Avengers; The Winchesters and Cas, Sherlock Holmes? At least one of them would come up with something...right?

"Oh God, Bradley. They've multiplied."

"Exaggeration, level five." Maddie shot the man at her side a weak glare before crossing her arms.

"Stark, I vaguely remember disliking you."

Tony Stark, looking well and wearing a dark suit and sunglasses, (inside the house? Heathen) smirked. "So. Ultron?"

"Looks like. You have any ideas?"

The rest of the room watched Maddie interact, not surprised at how tired she looked, but startled at her calm. And those who knew her best began to worry.

"A few. I'm guessing we want him gone right?"

"Duh." Maddie rolled her eyes. "Why wouldn't we?"

"Thought you guys were friends," Tony shrugged, and Maddie snorted. "Right – guess I read that wrong. Give me a few hours – I'll figure something out."

"I will give you one hour," Maddie argued, pulling out a long red piece of candy. "And one redvine."

"That'll work. I'll set up in the kitchen, and I'm stealing the tall one and – her."

Maddie huffed. "Garcia. When'd you get here again?"

"Ten minutes ago." Was the blonde woman's cheery smile. "Here. Sustain yourself." And Garcia handed Maddie a very large cup of coffee and followed Tony and a very bemused Sam Winchester into the kitchen.

"Please tell me that's not Mycroft Holmes," Theo said suddenly.

"Of course it's not!" Maddie was suddenly proven wrong as she eyed the man standing in the corner.

"Well." She paused. Sherlock was standing next to his brother, and Maddie chose to focus on him. "Why?"

"Called in a favor," Sherlock answered briskly.

Which only served to confuse Maddie more. "But – I already used up my favor."

"Yes, the Accords," Mycroft said. "I recall. Consider this one a freebie."

"The british government is NOT handing you a freebie." Theo said, aghast.

"Who cares?" Dean spat, glaring at Theo. "We'll take all the help we can get."

Maddie stiffened at the sound of Dean's voice, and it took her a moment before she could speak again, turning so Dean was unable to see her face.

"Welcome to the team then," She pointed at Sherlock and John. "Work whatever angle you have." She turned to the Avengers. "I've got access to a database that lists everyone Alexander has ties to. Wanna weed your way through them, see if anything interesting comes up?"

Clint made a face, but the others nodded. "Lemme go print out the list," she said.

When she was out of earshot, Theo turned wide eyes towards the large group.

"I know you guys don't like me,"

"Understatement," Dean and Steve said at the same time, and Theo huffed.

"I know why you guys don't like me too, and I understand. Just listen – work fast."

"Yeah, like we were going to take our time," Pietro snorted.

Theo paused and shot the room a stern look. "Your sass is not appreciated," he said primply. "Listen, if you're plans fail, then we will be forced to move onto plan C. Let me say this very slowly: YOU DO NOT WANT TO HAVE TO USE PLAN C."

And even though he was greatly disliked, the worry and emphatic way Theo spoke, had the group nodding around him.

Theo sighed in relief.

The Avengers, Sherlock Holmes, The Winchesters AND Cas? Plan C wouldn't even make it off the ground.

Except, three hours later, no one had made any progress.

"Maybe you should take a break," Steve murmured then, to a harried looking Maddie, whose calm had dissipated the longer the morning went on.

Maddie nodded, grabbed a pair of tennis shoes, said she had to "stop by the bank," and then hurried away, but not before she shot a triumphant look Theo's way.

And honor-bound by the dratted pinky promise, Theo was forced to sit there and say nothing.

Of course, it was less than ten minutes after Maddie had left, that the team made their first break in the case.

And surprisingly enough, it was Theo who had made the connection.


	12. Analysis

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

It was easy to spot him.

Bellevue Park was full, on that pretty fall afternoon, full of families and happy people, and Maddie grunted in disgust as she pushed her way past all of them, focused solely on the man standing by himself, watching the ducks waddle out of the pond feet away to be fed by a gaggle of small children.

"Do I even want to know how you escaped?" Maddie asked lowly as soon as she reached the man's side, and he chuckled.

"I left the barest trace of myself online," a shrug followed Alexander's statement, his eyes not leaving the group in front of him. "It was quite simple to affect their surveillance and then slip away." He turned to face Maddie then, his bushy gray eyebrows raised. "I was surprised by your call."

"You stole my son," Maddie hissed, her fists clenching, the wind picking up around them. "Did you think I wouldn't?"

"No." Ultron watched the leaves swirl around them for a moment, his mouth quirking. "I knew you would reach out, whether with your friends behind you or solo. I'm assuming they didn't agree with this move?" He smiled slightly. "Or, knowing you, they don't know."

"You don't know me," Maddie snapped, although they, in fact, didn't know.

Lucky guess.

But Ultron moved the body he was wearing so he stood directly in front of Maddie, blocking her path.

"You are a mystery to most, Miss Sinclair, but to me? You are an open book. I know what you love," His eyes flicked to the children, "What you dislike," he gestured towards himself, "What you desire," His gaze caught on a family of four nearby, the parents holding hands and the children playing happily, "as well as what you think you deserve." His chin tilted so he could look at their reflection in the pond.

* * *

Maddie was bundled in a pea coat, a scarf covering the lower half of her face, a beanie half falling off her head, her eyebrows scrunched low and her fists shoved into her pockets, her expression irritated.

She looked unapproachable and lonely.

* * *

Ultron shook his head.

"I mean you no harm," he said, smiling slightly. "I come forward not to war with you."

"You stole my son." Maddie repeated herself, though less angrily, and more to remind herself why she was there. "The war has started. Consider me harmed."

"He is safe, and will be returned to you," Ultron promised, his hands raising in surrender. "I merely needed to speak with you."

"About what?" Maddie's head tilted, and she waited. Ultron smiled.

"I wanted to thank you."

* * *

"Alright, we need to form a search party."

The announcement was so unexpected it took a moment to process.

"What?"

"She needs her space, Dean," Cas spoke suddenly, really the first full sentence he'd spoken since his threat against the Avengers.

"What, Maddie?" Clint snorted. "She's not missing, she's just taking a breather." He pushed the stack of papers in front him away. "Calm down Winchester. Besides, with whatever you said that pissed her off earlier, she probably doesn't want to see you anyway."

Dean rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, and Sherlock, from where he stood arguing with his brother, snorted.

"I hardly want to spend time we could using to search for Orie focused on Winchester and his inferiority complex," Dean huffed, but didn't argue, and Sherlock simply huffed and returned to arguing with his brothers.

"You can't blame the guy though," Prentiss spoke up after a moment, and Sherlock immediately turned his focus to her. "I mean, Captain America? And Theo's alright, I guess."

"What?" Theo looked up, slightly glazed from staring at the computer in front of him. "Did somebody get a lead?"

"No." Hotch answered. "Miss Sinclair has been out for over an hour. Mr. Winchester has suggested we send out a team to ensure her safety."

"Oh." Theo turned to Dean for a second, then he shook his head. "Nah, she's probably not done yet. Anyway, listen, I think I found something."

"What?" Pietro was beside Theo in a flash, his eyes reading over Theo's shoulder.

"Well, I've been reading her blog, right?" Theo admitted, and Dean whirled around.

"She doesn't have a blog," Dean snapped, and Theo raised his hands, Pietro still reading quickly behind him.

"Dean would know if she had a blog," Sam said loyally, though he straightened and leaned forward, as if hoping to catch sight of Theo's screen without having to move.

"I get it," Theo said slowly. "It's been a few years since I've last seen her, she's a very different person, but Mads wouldn't be Mads if she didn't have a blog."

"This is definitely her blog," Pietro spoke up, before an irate Dean could say anything else. Pietro quirked an eyebrow at Steve, and Steve was moving to stare over Theo's shoulder as well.

Steve began to read, slowly.

" _You know the person, the one that other people are drawn to, and you know it's not their personality that's drawing others to them, because their personality sucks?_

 _Yeah, I'm not that person. I'm more of the type that's annoying and combative but heck, they're useful, so I'm mostly tolerated._

 _Yeah – that's me._

 _I'm lucky though, the idiots who tolerate me I'm capable of tolerating right back, again, for their own usefulness._

 _There may or not be feelings involved there, as well._

 _But ask me about those in public, and I'll deny it._

 _I've got a rep to protect, you know._

Steve raised an eyebrow at Dean, and he sighed. "Okay, fine. She's got a blog. What about it?"

"Well," Theo tapped the notebook at his side. "I've been making a timeline of Mad's adventures this side of the dimension. She showed up during your little spat in Sokovia, correct?"

"Right," Clint nodded. "That was – May, beginning of, I believe."

"That's where she met Ultron?" Theo asked, turning to Wanda, who nodded.

"She started out as a prisoner, but was quickly promoted."

"To Ally?" Theo snorted, not waiting for an answer. "Yeah, I'm not surprised, that's her M.O. Did their weird friendship end on a good note?"

"Why would it have?" Tony snorted. "She fought on our side, there at the end."

Theo smiled suddenly, his dimple making an appearance. "Yeah," he said with a smile. "She talks the rebel game pretty well, but when it comes down to it," Theo shook his head. "She's a better person than all of us combined."

"But," Steve's eyebrows lowered. "I wouldn't say she ended with Ultron on a bad note. If anything, she was – disappointed in him, that he couldn't see clearly."

"So – what?" Sherlock rolled his eyes. "You believe that this Ultron character imprinted on Madison so deeply that when he lost the war, he willingly chose to stay dormant until such a time as he could reappear?"

"What if he didn't stay dormant?" Hotch spoke up, and his team leaned forward.

"Behavioral Analysis?" Tasha said skeptically. "On a robot?"

"I wouldn't consider Ultron a robot," Mycroft said delicately. "Perhaps a bit uncoordinated with his feelings, but not entirely a robot."

"Alright." Dean pointed a finger at Hotch. "What do you got?"

"This Ultron, he apparently escaped to the internet following the attack, correct?" HOtch asked, and the Avengers nodded.

"And yet, no attempts have been made to try again," Rossi mused, head tilted. "He hasn't interacted with anyone in any way."

"Except for Maddie," Garcia corrected, and the team shot her a look. She shrugged. "Well, Theo's been sending me everything he's come across, regarding Maddie's timeline, and I've been looking into Maddie's work: and I found a thing."

"What kind of thing?" Dean asked.

"Well, Maddie's just one of many freelance writers that Alexander publications hires, and one of many, many authors, and the company has a waiting list three years long. From Maddie's blog, it looked like they called her, just a few short months after she first," Garcia shot Theo a look, "showed up?" Theo nodded, and she continued. "How would a company with such a long waiting list know to look for Maddie, who most likely hadn't written anything since she'd been here, and didn't have the credentials to even make the list?"

"Someone must have recommended her," Prentiss guessed.

"Exactly as I was thinking," Garcia grinned. "So I got ahold of her bosses, and no one's actually quite certain WHO made the order, just that it came from an email that can't be traced."

"But why would Ultron," Reid snorted, "Assuming Ultron is behind that, try and find her a job?"

"Guilt," JJ guessed, and the team shrugged.

"That's not all," Theo spoke up. "The company Mads is working with hires people to be liaisons, who help their freelancers organize positions all around the world, helping the writers under their care with not just finding the job, but finding housing and transportation needs as necessary. Each liaison usually has between 10-20 writers under their care."

"Let me guess," Morgan spoke dryly, "Maddie is her liaison's only client."

"Bingo. Worst part? The guys name is Url Not, spelled U – R – L, N – O – T."

"Ultron." Steve sighed.

"Yep. This guy showed up in their database less than four hours before the email about Maddie was sent."

"So we're sure, then. Ultron has been helping this whole time." Clint growled and crossed his arms, and Theo shrugged. "The only thing is – WHY? Why spend the last few years helping her find jobs, and then steal her son?"

"Well, it kind of makes sense," Sam Winchester mused, and Dean shot his brother an incredulous look.

"How?" He snapped.

"This Ultron – thing, when was he first created? Two years ago?" Sam looked to Tony for confirmation, and he shrugged.

"Closer to two and a half," Tony admitted.

"So maybe the robot has all-access to the internet, but the internet can't tell you how to feel things."

"Right." JJ made a face. "So – we're dealing with a two and a half year old in an adult's body."

"Or in other words," Prentiss smirked. "We're dealing with a man."

Garcia cackled, and Theo snorted, but the others seemed decidedly unamused.

"Ultron's intelligence isn't comparable with his ability to think like a normal person, is all I'm saying," Prentiss corrected quickly. "Mentally, he's a child, and he's simply reacting to get attention."

"He's not capable yet of deciphering between good attention and bad attention," Dean said, suddenly catching on. "Any attention is good attention."

"That was, surprisingly astute of you," Sam said, and Dean made a face.

"I'm raising an almost two year old, I've read a few books," he said reluctantly, turning away so he wouldn't have to look at his brothers grinning face. "So – he kidnapped Orie to get Maddie's attention."

"In a nutshell," Hotch shrugged.

"The good news," Sherlock mused, "Orion isn't in any danger then. Ultron would never risk Maddie's wrath by hurting the boy, so he's safe, we simply have to retrieve him. Maddie, on the other hand – " Sherlock made a face.

"If she doesn't react the way Ultron is anticipating, he'll take out his anger on her," Mycroft finished. "Which would be counter-productive for us."

"So we keep Maddie from Ultron, tell him he can't speak to her until we get Orie back, and we cage him before we have to follow through," Pietro concluded with a large smile.

"Only one problem," Dean said slowly, turning to shoot a look at Steve, who seemed to read Dean's mind, and Steve's eyes narrowed.

"Where's Maddie, right now?"

Theo audibly gulped. "Hate to say it, but she's probably paying a whole lot of attention to Ultron right now."

"It's now time for that search party, then, wouldn't you say?" Dean asked darkly, and this time, the rest of the room nodded, in unanimous agreement.

* * *

 **Maddie is getting into trouble and the others are solving a case. What else is new? Next Chapter up now!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	13. If A Tree Falls

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

 **If a Tree falls…**

"The Winchesters and Cas should probably stick to the streets," Steve said confidently. "They know the area better than the rest of us."

"We'll go with them," Sherlock announced. "I've visited a time or two, I know where Madison is most likely to frequent." Steve nodded and turned to his team.

"Question," Clint asked quickly, interrupting Steve. "Why don't we just ask the outsider who's been acting quite guilty the last few seconds?" He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, and everyone slowly turned to face Theo.

"Listen," He said hurriedly. "I don't know any specifics."

"Well what do you know?" Tasha snapped.

"What happened Junior Year?" Wanda asked, head tilted. She moved forward slowly, eyes bright. "In Criminal Law?"

Theo flushed and started blustering, his hands waving about nervously. "You – reading minds is not fair!" He snapped.

Wanda grinned. "I didn't," she said smugly. "I overhead you and Maddie speaking on the back porch."

"News flash," Pietro said sourly. "My sister can only read the minds of those from THIS dimension."

"Oh." Theo sighed heavily in relief. "That's good to know."

"You know what else would be good to know?" Mycroft spoke up waspishly from the kitchen. "What exactly occurred during Criminal Law, junior year."

"You guys," Theo huffed. "You know Maddie. We were participating in a mock hostage situation. I was one of the hostage negotiaters. So was Maddie. We weren't getting through to the unsub. Maddie resorted to drastic measures."

"What, the unsub wouldn't answer the phone, so she walked right in?" Clint guessed, and Theo shrugged.

"Actually, yes. It worked too – zero casualties, she talked him down in less than ten minutes."

"Impressive." Tasha said impassively. "What does that have to do with right now?"

"I second that," Sherlock huffed, but then his eyes widened. "Unless…"

"She's going to try and talk Ultron down in person." Dean said flatly.

"Pretty much." Theo admitted.

"So now we have to work faster." Steve shook his head. "All right. Is everybody ready to go?" The room burst into a flurry of action, people rising and grabbing their weapons, the BAU snatching paper, Mycroft idly stepping out of the way and watching everyone move seriously.

The ringing of a phone caught everyone off guard.

"Is that?" Clint asked slowly.

"A home phone?" Pietro scoffed. "Who even has one of THOSE anymore?"

Dean made a face, and his eyes were uncontrollably drawn to Steve, and then to Theo.

They all wore the same expression.

"Home phones have exactly three uses," Steve said slowly, his fists clenching at his side. "They are for the older generations,"

"For the homeridden," Dean added.

"Or for ransom calls." Theo finished.

"I vote we don't answer it," John said seriously.

"Hello?" Clint's eyebrows furrowed as he listened to the voice on the other end. "Yes. Uh huh. Right. Fine. Got it." He hung up the phone as abruptly as he'd answered it, then shrugged.

"Telemarketer," He admitted, and Pietro groaned loudly.

"You scared me," He admitted. Clint shrugged and opened his mouth, but the phone rang again.

Tasha stopped Clint as his hand automatically reached out. She shook her head seriously, and Clint slumped and moved to flop on the couch. After a moment, Tasha picked up the receiver and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" She said. Her eyebrows furrowed immediately. "Who is this?" She snapped. "I don't," She started, but was interrupted by whoever was on the other line. She listened for a few moments. "I understand," she said slowly. "Done." She finished. She set the phone down gently, then speared the room with a serious look.

"Who is Crowley?" She asked.

* * *

Sam couldn't stop his reaction. He jerked as if he'd been electrocuted, whirling to face Dean. Cas did the same, but slightly less obnoxiously. Dean's head dropped and he slumped against the wall he stood in front of.

"One of yours, then?" Sherlock assumed, and Dean looked up with sigh.

"Yeah," He admitted. "He has Orie." It wasn't a question, but Tasha nodded anyway.

"Right." He said tightly. "What does he want?"

"Money," Tasha answered abruptly, and Dean laughed sharply. "No he doesn't," he said darkly. He strode down the hall and out of sight, and after a moment, Clint snorted.

"You!" He pointed dramatically. "With the hair!" Sam Winchester made a face. "Explain," Clint demanded.

"Crowley is an associate of one of ours," Sam admitted. "Not one of our more upstanding ones,"

"He's a demon," Cas interrupted harshly. "Who has proven to be useful on occasion, which is why he still lives."

"Why would an associate kidnap a child close to you?" Wanda asked.

Sam and Cas shared a look. "It might have to do with the fact that we haven't associated with him since-"

"Since Maddie." Steve confirmed with a sigh. "You know how to find this Crowley?"

"We'll find a way." Sam assured, and Cas nodded, face serious.

"Wanda, Nat, you help them," Steve ordered. "Theo – your team is really here to help?"

Theo nodded, then checked with his team. Hotch seemed expressionless for a moment, and Theo's eyes widened dramatically, his lower lip pushing out only slightly, and Hotch sighed heavily.

"How can we help?" Hotch addressed Steve, and he tilted his head.

"I'd like to split your team up a bit: the more level-headed ones we have, the more we're capable of."

Hotch nodded. "We'll follow your lead, Captain." He assured, and John nodded quickly.

"Us as well," John added.

Steve thought for a moment before straightening.

"Then I'd like you, Agent Hotchner, to take your analyst and Agent Morgan as well and take up the Police on their offer of office space: set up, make use of any and all information they have, scout for Orie and kick up a fuss about the missing suspect. Tony if you'd go with them, make sure their getting ALL the information they need?" Tony nodded and stood, and a quiet "hem hem" had Steve pausing to shoot Sherlocks older brother a look.

"I believe I'll assist them," He said, and Steve nodded.

"Agent Rossi," Steve turned and the older Italian man raised a finger.

"Actually," He said slowly, "I believe I'd like to help with this locating this Crowley fellow," He said meaningfully. "I think I could be of use to them."

Again, Steve didn't argue, just simply nodded. "Agents Reid and Jareau, if you could work with Scott and Pietro: We need to find Maddie and keep her as far away from Ultron as possible."

"You don't trust her to keep her cool?" Pietro asked, his arms crossing, and Steve huffed.

"It's not her I don't trust," He responded seriously. "Watson, I believe you're a familiar yet unthreatening face. Mind joining them?"

"Not at all," John responded quickly, and Sherlock huffed.

"I will be assisting with dealing with this Ultron character," Sherlock said haughtily, and Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Fine," He said shortly. "You're with me and Wilson. Agent Prentiss," Steve turned and inclined his head. "If you'll join us?" Prentiss nodded.

"Let's find out what this Crowley wants, locate Orie, retrieve him safely, find Ultron, keep Maddie away from him, and talk him down. Hotch, Nat, Watson? Update every hour on the hour – no exceptions. If I don't hear from you, I'm calling you back. Let's finish this – today. Go."

Steve nodded once and the group moved, splitting up as he'd ordered, speaking quickly and moving so that within minutes, the only individuals left standing in Maddie's house were Clint, Theo, Castiel, and Bucky.

* * *

"He didn't give me a job," Theo said sullenly, and Clint snorted.

"That was on purpose, idiot," He moved towards the table where Maddie's home phone sat. "It means we can do what we need to do, no judgements."

Theo's eyebrows furrowed, and he looked at Cas, who seemed just as confused.

But Bucky's eyes lit up and he hurried over, picking up the receiver and placing it by his ear.

Clint dialed a number, and after a few moments Bucky pressed a button and set the receiver down.

Ringing filled the room, and Theo and Cas joined the other two men around the table.

The ringing ended abruptly as a voice answered the phone.

Maddie.

* * *

"Sup nerds?" She greeted.

"What do you think you are doing?" Clint immediately snapped out, and Maddie sighed loudly for a long time.

"I'm meeting up with an online friend," She answered dryly, and Clint snorted.

"Is that safe?" Cas said lowly, and she laughed.

"It is neither safe nor sane, but I'm not one to care much about how I'm appearing to others, and my well-being is certainly not as important as my sons. What are you currently doing to ensure his safety?"

"We're not calling you back in," Bucky interrupted, "Clint's just being a worried old dad right now."

"Well tell him he sucks." Maddie said sulkily, and Theo snorted.

"Mads, how's the weather?" He asked urgently.

The other side of the phone was quiet, and then Maddie said "Blue skies and sunshine."

"Are you with Ultron?" Castiel asked.

"Duh." Maddie rolled her eyes. "I'm not at the salon having "Me Time", you know what I mean?"

"What are you doing with him?" Clint pressed.

"Call me Geppeto," Maddie said flippantly. "Listen, I gotta go, there are no cell phones past this point. Just find my kid, okay?"

And before any of them could respond, Maddie had hung up.

Clint huffed and started to pace the living room. Theo tilted his head.

"Geppeto?" Cas repeated unhelpfully, and Bucky opened his mouth to explain, but Theo raised a hand.

"No cell phones past this point," Theo said urgently. "Where would you see that sign?"

It only took a moment for Clint to catch up. "A hospital. Why is she there?"

Cas made a face. "Would you rather sit here and ponder all the potential reasons why Maddie does what she does, or would you prefer to locate the nearest hospital and offer our assistance?"

"What he said," Theo pointed, and Clint rolled his eyes.

"Fine," He grumbled. "Let's go then."

"Should we let the others know?" Bucky asked as they hurried out, and Theo and Cas just looked at Clint.

Clint furrowed his eyebrows. Then he laughed.

"Yeah – no. We're not doing that."

* * *

 **Next Chapter soon!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	14. Body of Proof

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

"Who was that?"

Maddie slid her phone into her back pocket and rolled her eyes at the overeager man next to her. "It was the president," she snapped. "Who do you think it was? It was my friends."

"And you didn't tell them where you were?" Ultron pressed, clasping his hands together.

"Of course not. One: they'll figure it out soon enough and we need those extra few seconds, and two: We can handle this. I don't need them."

"I'm sure you are capable of handling many things," Ultron said delicately, "And our current situation is hardly permanent: your son is safe and I only borrowed him to get your attention,"

"A horrible idea, once again," Maddie interrupted.

"It was the only way you would abandon all logic and meet with me without your entourage present," he pointed out, and Maddie sighed because he was right.

"It's not always about need," Ultron said hesitantly, and Maddie made a face, but Ultron pressed on, "It's not a weakness to prefer to be around others. I wouldn't have welcomed your friends, but I would have tolerated them."

"The truth is," Maddie made a face. "They're not people who see shades of gray very well. They're only acquainted with black and white, and our current course of action is fifty shades of gray."

"A course you have yet to fill me in on," Ultron added.

"Well." Maddie turned a corner and then stopped in front of a large window. "Wait over."

Ultron, possessing a man's body stood next to Maddie, the two of them staring through the window and into a room where a body was clad in a hospital gown and covered with a thin blanket, tubes and wires hiding his face from view.

"Who is this?" Ultron asked. Maddie made a face.

"This is Declan Webster. He's 23 years old and has been in a coma for the last five years. His parents died in the car crash that put him in this coma. His only other living relative, a cousin that has been keeping the machines on out of familial duty than any real hope that the guy will wake up, died a few weeks ago. The doctors, through no other option, are scheduled to turn off the machines in a few hours." Maddie crossed her arms and turned slightly so she could catch a glimpse of Ultron's borrowed face.

"The body you're wearing is still in use, and I cannot in good conscious let you keep it." Maddie continued firmly. "Nor can I in good conscious trade someone else's life for my sons. It's not my job to say who deserves life more – although if it had come to it," she admitted after a moment, "I would've saved my son and watched the world burn. You're giving me another option, and this is what I'm offering,"

"A shade of gray," Ultron murmured, his eyes wide.

Maddie knew that Ultron could see where this was going, but she kept speaking. "Declan Webster is brain dead, the only thing left of him is a body he no longer has any use for."

"And I am a mind with no body to use," Ultron murmured. Maddie nodded and looked back at Declan.

"Were Declan to suddenly wake up, there would be no one to miss him and no obligations: he would have a clean slate and a fresh start; a new lease on life, a second chance." Maddie tapped the window with one finger.

"Declan Webster wanted to do good – he wanted to change the world. He's gone now – but you're not. I'm not doing this for you," She clarified. "I'm doing this for Declan. Be good, Ultron, change the world, and NOT by destroying it," Maddie snickered, and Ultron smiled slightly, still staring in awe at Declan's body. "Declan's not capable of taking that second chance, that fresh start, that new lease on life. But you can take it on his behalf."

"Thank you," Ultron breathed, and Maddie shrugged uncomfortably.

"A lot of people will think what I'm doing is wrong," She said. "Others might agree with my line of thinking. I don't think what I'm doing is right – but I don't think it's wrong. At the end of the day, it's not about what I think. It's about what you think."

"You could be handing a loaded weapon to a terrorist," Ultron turned to Maddie, who nodded.

"I could be," She agreed. "Am I?"

"No." Ultron shook his head firmly.

"Prove it," Maddie demanded, then she walked away.

* * *

She didn't look back to see if Ultron entered the room or if he walked away – she made her way to the elevators and she pushed a button and she stepped inside and closed her eyes until the doors closed. Then she pressed the ground floor button and sighed.

A few seconds later, her phone buzzed.

Maddie read the text quickly – and then she smiled.

 _1504 W Main Street._

 _Kevin Tran and Meg._

 _Thank you._

* * *

Maddie met a smaller crew than she was expecting when the elevator doors opened, and she took a moment to observe the odd group as they hadn't caught sight of her yet.

Clint was furiously pressing the elevator button and shouting over his shoulder at a calm-faced Cas whose arms were crossed.

"The amount of times you press the button has no bearing on how quickly the elevator will appear," Cas explained in his deep voice, the exasperation clear.

"Clint's allergic to logic," Bucky explained from where he watched the numbers above the elevator light up. "Also common sense – and stupid people."

"Can we stop arguing for one second?" Theo asked, exasperated, and the other three shared a look.

"Nope," the answered simultaneously.

And Maddie snorted.

"You do know there are elevators on this side too, right?" She spoke up, and the guys – her stupid friends, the ones she wouldn't trade for the world – spun around, varying expressions of relief and surprise on their faces.

"You're alive!" Theo blurt out in surprise, and Maddie rolled her eyes.

"Way to state the obvious," Bucky snorted, nudging Theo. He raised an eyebrow at Maddie. "So? Where's Ultron?"

"He's making a choice," Maddie said cryptically. "It's fine, we negotiated, I have a lead on where Orie is."

"So do we," Cas said darkly, and Maddie frowned at him.

"Well then." She crossed her arms. "What's your lead?"

"A name." Clint piped up.

"Ah." Maddie perked up. "Well, I got a name AND an address – so I win."

Clint opened his mouth to argue, but Bucky shoved him. "Dude, shut up," he advised. "We should probably talk about this in a more secure location."

"Like someplace that serves caffeine in a coffee cup?" Maddie blurt out excitedly, and Theo chuckled.

"Or," Clint drew out the word with relish, "Someplace that serves alcohol."

Maddie shot him a glare, and his shoulders slumped. "Fine," he muttered. "Caffeine it is."

* * *

Maddie flung open the door to the coffee shop, a bell jangling at the motion.

"Hey Larry!" She called out as she entered and a man behind the counter raised a hand in greeting, though he didn't look up. Maddie moved to the back of the shop, where two couches sat across from each other, a coffee table separating them. She sat, Bucky took the seat next to her, Clint and Cas took the other couch, and Theo pulled up a chair.

"Exchange of information." Maddie rubbed her hands. "What's your name?"

The guys shared a look, and Clint sighed heavily.

"Crowley."

Maddie tilted her head. "Never heard of the guy – is he important?"

"Apparently he's one of the not so reputable associates that your boyfriend and his crew used to deal with," Clint continued, crossing his arms. Maddie's eyes sharpened and she turned to Cas.

"Human?" She bit out, and Cas shook his head wearily.

"Unfortunately not. He is a demon – formerly the king of hell."

"Let me guess," Bucky pursed his lips. "The demotion can be blamed on you and the Winchesters."

"Crowley is a worthy adversary and he has several reasons to be upset with us," Cas admitted. "Not limited to the fact that since your sons birth we have refused all contact with him."

"So the former King of Hell capable of demonic power got dissed by you guys and he helped nab Orie in revenge?" Clint shook his head. "That sounds so petty."

"Which sounds just like Crowley," Theo mused. When Cas shot him a look, Theo straightened. "I'm a fan of the show," He smiled wryly. "I've seen what he can do."

"But he doesn't have Orie," Maddie spoke up suddenly. "Or – he shouldn't. Ultron and I are bros, he gave me the name of who has my kid and the address of where he is."

"And the name?" Cas leaned forward, and Maddie pulled out her phone.

"Kevin Tran," She read. "I haven't heard the name before,"

"I have," Cas and Theo said together, Theo in a worried tone and Cas sounding determined.

"Crowley has the means to find Tran and the strength to overpower him. If Tran had your son," Cas stood, and the others followed suit, "He doesn't now."

Maddie's eyes widened. "So what do we do?"

"Give me the address," Bucky held out a hand and Maddie handed her phone over without questions. Bucky pulled out his own phone and started tapping buttons. "I'll call Steve and tell him to check the address to cover our bases."

"I'll call my team," Theo decided. "They're working with the police – the guy may be a demon but he can't change faces and we can put a sketch out – missing kid? There won't be a place he can hide."

"What's everyone else doing?" Maddie asked Clint, and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Steve's team is looking for Ultron – Buck will tell them that's no longer priority and they'll check that address. Dean is working on supernatural ways to find Crowley, which will be pointless of Orie's still with Tran, but if not,"

"At least he got a head start," Maddie agreed. She crossed her arms, shivering slightly. "Is there anyone else?"

"There's a group looking for you," Bucky said with a wince as he waited for Steve to answer, "Other than us, I mean." Maddie made a face.

"Two groups looking for me? Why?"

"Steve assigned the other team," Cas shrugged. "We just did what we wanted."

"Right," Maddie sighed, rubbing the temple of her forehead for a second. Then she straightened. "Alright. Bucky – have Steve check the address and then meet us at my work." Bucky nodded and turned, speaking quickly into his phone. "Clint – Call Nat. Either get her to Alexander's or make sure she's got a wifi connection. Cas – make sure Sam gets the same message just in case wires are crossed. Then Clint, call Scott and give him the location. It's time to get the band back together again."

They whipped out their phones and went to work, and Maddie watched for a second before making her way towards the counter.

"The largest size coffee you have," She ordered. "As Black as you can make it." She made a face. "I'm going to need it."

* * *

 **Things are happening! How does Maddie plan to take on a demon of Hell? Stay tuned to find out! Two more chapters up next Monday!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


	15. Whoops

**See Chapter One for Disclaimer**

* * *

"Alright, is this everybody?" Maddie plopped her hands on her hips and scanned the room – and then she smiled.

The others looked slightly worried at the sudden smile, certain she was thinking about her next crazy plan, but Theo understood – this was something different.

* * *

Maddie had demanded everyone meet at Alexander Enterprises main office, and she'd ushered everyone into a private lobby off of the first floor. The room was expensive looking and housed several large couches, a few arm chairs, and some end tables artfully arranged in a pleasant seating layout.

As everyone had arrived, they'd taken their seats and Maddie had waited to speak until everyone was assembled and Maddie didn't smile because of her next evil plot – she smiled because of the way everyone had sat.

Theo would've expected everyone to slip back into their tightly knit groups: The Avengers in one corner, The Winchesters and Cas in another, The BAU and Sherlock keeping space between each other but sharing the third corner nonetheless.

That didn't happen.

At the very least, Theo wouldn't have been surprised if everyone had stuck to the groups Steve had assigned: Those working on Crowley on one couch, Those working with the police on another, Steve's group clustered around his arm chair, and that hadn't happened either.

Instead, Romanoff had taken a seat with her boyfriend and one of his coworkers, the rest of the BAU speaking with Sam, Cas conversing with Pietro and Wanda, Sherlock arguing with Tony and John listening in to what Sam Winchester was explaining. Bucky was talking to Mycroft Holmes and Scott Land and Sam Wilson were interrogating Dean about something.

It was odd the way the groups mingled.

But it was cool to see – and that's why Maddie smiled.

* * *

"You see anybody missing?" Bucky answered Maddie's question with his usual level of snark, and she rolled her eyes.

"No I don't, but the amount of people on our team seems to multiply every time I look up, so I was just checking," she snarked back, and Bucky grinned and raised his hands in retreat.

"Well maybe if you didn't run off every two seconds," Pietro teased, and she waved away the pointed words.

"I do what I want," she said glibly. "But now's the time to share information. I have news."

"Let me guess." Steve crossed his arms. "You spoke with Ultron."

"I spoke with Ultron," Maddie agreed mockingly. "And you know what Rogers?"

Steve quirked an eyebrow.

"He's not a threat anymore. I talked him down."

"You – talked him down?" Hotchner repeated, surprised, and Maddie nodded firmly.

"She'd make a great agent," Theo spoke up for her. "She got Ultron to admit he just wanted a second chance,"

"And she found a nonlethal, nonthreatening way to grant him one," Cas added.

"The robot has a Pinocchio complex," Natasha spoke up. "He wants to be a real boy – and the only way to do that,"

"Is to steal a body." Clint finished Tasha's though. He shrugged. "Something I frown against. Mads here, gave him exactly what he wanted without harming anyone in the process."

"I can speak for myself, thanks," Maddie burst out, and Clint, Theo, and Cas, shot her a look.

"But can you explain what happened without being purposely combative and pushing everyone's buttons?" Bucky asked and she scrunched up her nose.

"I see your point." She admitted. "Proceed."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "Anyway – Maddie heard tell of a guy in a coma at the local hospital: guy is totally brain dead but the body is perfectly healthy."

"She offered it to Ultron in place of Brian Alexander?" Agent Morgan narrowed his eyes. "She had no right: That guy has a family who has a right to choose what happens to him,"

"Families dead," Clint interrupted smugly. "The last living relative of the guy passed away a couple of days ago. The doctors were set to turn off the guys breathing support and the body was going to die."

"Maddie led Ultron to a body that was going to die anyway and Ultron took her up on the offer. He's now downloaded into a brain that was previously unoccupied, and more importantly, Ultron is off the internet and no longer able to interfere."

The room went silent at that.

"Downloading himself took him completely off the internet then?" Pietro said suddenly, directing the question at Maddie. "So he's simply human now? No longer a threat?"

Maddie's eyebrows furrowed, and she opened her mouth, just barely noticing Theo nodding his head meaningfully behind the rest of the room.

Her mouth snapped shut. Then she nodded firmly.

"Let's go with that," She said. Steve and Bucky shared a look, but the others took her words at face value.

"It's not exactly a black and white situation, I realize," Maddie admitted, exasperated. "But this takes care of several issues, and the conclusion is that we don't have to worry about Ultron anymore."

"But he did take Orie?" Dean asks, trying to clarify, and Maddie grimaced.

"Initially, yes," she hedged. But then she sighed. "As soon as we finished our conversation, he sent me a text with the address and the name of the guy watching Orie. Ultron isn't a problem anymore." She crossed her arms, and finally looked Dean in the eye. "But apparently there's a new guy on the scene? Goes by the name of Crowley?" She prompted.

Dean flushed and looked away, and Sam stepped forward apologetically. "A former colleague of ours. He made a ransom call,"

Maddie's eyebrows rose. "I knew that home phone would come in handy," she said glibly, and Sam snorted.

"We believe this Crowley guy has Orie," Sam continued. "He's asked for money, but Dean and I are convinced this is some sort of revenge story."

"Which matches up with what Cas was telling me." Maddie nodded. "Alright, this is what we're going to do. Steve," She fished the paper with the address on it out of her pocket. "Take a team and check out this address. A guy named Kevin Tran,"

Sam and Dean jerked, and Maddie noticed, but ignored it, "should be there, hopefully with Orie."

"And if he's not there?" Steve asked, even as he grabbed his jacket and jerked his head at Hotch and John.

"Sam is gonna take a group back to the police department and give them everything he knows about Crowley and his current whereabouts. I may not like the police, but they've got eyes everywhere and right now, we need that."

"Isn't this Crowley character not exactly human?" Mycroft drawled. "I don't think a wanted poster and an APB are going to help us find him."

"I don't expect it to," Maddie shrugged, and Tasha nodded.

"It's just to put pressure on him – so he feels he has to choice but to take the deal we offer." She figured out, and Maddie nodded.

"So what's the deal?" Wanda asked, and Maddie smiled.

This time she WAS thinking about the next crazy plan.

And Dean realized before everyone else what that plan was.

"No." He said suddenly. "No, I don't want you within 50 feet of Crowley, let alone within speaking distance," He demanded, and Maddie's eyes narrowed.

"It worked with Ultron," She began, but Dean interrupted her with a loud scoff.

"Ultron was trying to impress you – he has weird childlike feelings about you and would've done anything you asked because he wanted you to like him! Crowley has no reason to like you and no reason to play fair – You're not talking to him."

"You don't get to tell me what to do," Maddie snapped back. "So shut your pie hole!"

"NO, Mads. You've been running off and doing your own thing this whole time, and you're not a one woman show. You have a room full of people who are trying to help you because they care about you and I refuse to believe that the best plan is for you to take Crowley on all by yourself!"

"Who says I'm taking him on alone?" Maddie retorted, and Dean went quiet, confused.

Maddie smiled. "I'm not an idiot, Dean, but thanks for treating me like one." She said bitterly. Dean opened his mouth, expression confused, but Maddie turned away from him.

"Crowley has been watching: He knows I prefer to do things solo – He'll be expecting this move. He'll think he has the advantage. But I won't be alone."

"We'll be listening in." Bucky completed her thought – and that smile appeared – the one that said "I have a plan, and it's nuts, but you're gonna help me".

"Some of you will be listening in," Maddie agreed. "Some of you will be making a very public fuss about the missing kid,"

"So Crowley _thinks_ it's just you and him," Cas nodded approvingly.

"But you will have some sort of physical back up?" Sam pressed worriedly, and Maddie just smiled AGAIN.

"Yes." She answered simply.

"It can't be any of us," Theo shook his head. "Crowley would be expecting that – you'll have to call in other backup."

"Do you have other backup?" Pietro asked doubtfully, looking at the crowded room.

The smile on Maddie's face grew. "Not only do I have backup, but I have backup that will scare Crowley so badly I'll never have to worry about him again."

"Who do you have on call that's scary enough to terrify a demon?" Bucky asked honestly.

And to everyone's consternation, Maddie chose not to answer – and simply smiled.

* * *

It took one phone call to set up the meeting, and Crowley had agreed immediately. It took about an hour to get everyone situated: Steve checked the address and found an unconscious and injured Kevin Tran, who was transported to Maddie's home and put under the care of John and Agent Jareau.

Steve then took a group to the Police Department and made sure to make a big fuss about the missing child. Others made a spectacle of searching the streets, and one team was currently tearing apart Alexander Enterprises, the "lead suspect". Everyone was sent to a public setting and told to stay visible. Bucky, Cas, Clint and Theo made a show of entering a police station: and then they locked themselves in the Captain's office and turned on the laptop to the cameras that had been set up earlier.

And Maddie settled herself in the location she'd chosen and waited for Crowley to arrive.

And while she waited…she smiled.

* * *

 **Heh. Two more chapters next monday!**

 **Review/Follow/Favorite?**

 **~CLC~**


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